A  LITTLE  WIZARD 


STANLEY  J.   WEYMAN 


A  LITTLE 

WIZARD 


"?•..!• 

STANLEY  J.  WEYMAN 

AUTHOR  OF 

WA  GENTLEMAN  OF  FRANCE,"  "FRANCIS  CLUDDE, 
"UNDER  THE  RED  ROBE,"  ETC..  ETC. 


NEW  YORK 
R.  F.  FKNNO  &  COMPANY 

9  AND  u  EAST  i6TH  STREET 


COPYRIGHT,  1895. 
R.  F.  FENNO  &  COMPANY. 


A  Little  Wizard 


A  LITTLE  ¥IZAED. 


CHAPTER  I. 

PATTENHALL. 

WHEN  the  agent  of  General  Skippon,  to 
whom  the  estate  of  Pattenhall  by  Kipon 
fell,  as  part  of  his  reward  after  the  battle 
of  Naseby,  went  down  to  take  possession, 
he  found  a  little  boy  sitting  on  a  heap  of 
stones  a  few  paces  from  the  entrance  gate. 
The  old  house  (which  has  since  been  pulled 
down)  lay  a  quarter  of  a  mile  from  the 
road  and  somewhat  in  a  hollow ;  but  its 
many  casements,  blushing  and  sparkling 
in  the  glow  of  the  evening  sun,  caught  the 
rider's  eye,  and  led  him  into  the  comfort- 
able belief  that  he  had  reached  his  desti- 
nation. He  had  come  from  Ripon,  how- 


6  A  LITTLE  WIZARD. 

ever,  and  the  village  lies  on  the  farther 
side  of  the  house  from  that  town ;  conse- 
quently he  had  seen  no  one  whom  he  could 
question,  and  he  hailed  the  boy's  presence 
with  relief,  checking  his  horse,  and  calling 
to  him  to  know  if  this  was  PattenhalL 

The  lad  crouching  on  the  stones,  and 
nervously  plucking  the  grass  beside  him, 
looked  up  at  the  four  stern  men  sitting 
squarely  in  their  saddles.  But  he  did  not 
answer.  He  might  have  been  deaf. 

"  Come  I "  Agent  Hoby  said,  repeating 
his  question  roughly.  "  You  have  got  a 
tongue,  my  lad.  Is  this  old  squire  Pat- 
ten's ?  " 

The  boy  shook  his  head  mutely.  He 
looked  about  twelve  years  old. 

"  Is  it  farther  on  ? " 

"  Yes,  farther  on,"  the  lad  muttered, 
scarcely  moving  his  lips. 

"  Where  ?  " 

Still  keeping  his  eyes,  which  were  large 


A  LITTLE  WIZARD.  7 

and  brown,  on  his  questioner,  the  boy 
pointed  towards  the  tower  of  the  church, 
a  quarter  of  a  mile  away. 

The  agent  stifled  an  exclamation,  such 
as  in  other  times  would  have  been  an  oath. 
"  IJmph  I  I  thought  we  were  there  1 "  he 
muttered.  "  However,  it  is  but  a  step. 
Come  up,  mare." 

The  boy  watched  the  four  riders  plod  on 
along  the  road  until  the  trees,  which  were 
in  the  full  glory  of  their  summer  foliage, 
and  almost  met  across  the  dusty  way,  hid 
them  from  his  eyes.  Then  he  rose,  and 
shaking  his  fist  with  passionate  vehemence 
in  the  direction  in  which  they  had  gone, 
turned  towards  the  gateway  as  if  he  would 
go  up  to  the  house.  Before  he  had  taken 
three  steps,  however,  he  changed  his  mind, 
and  coming  slowly  back  to  the  heap  of 
stones,  sat  down  in  the  same  place  and  pos- 
ture as  before.  The  movement  to  retreat 
and  the  return  were  alike  characteristic. 


8  A  LITTLE  WIZARD. 

In  frame  the  boy  was  altogether  childish, 
being  puny  and  slight,  and  somewhat 
stunted ;  but  his  small  face,  browned  by 
wind  and  sun,  expressed  both  will  and  sen- 
sibility. As  he  sat  waiting  for  the  trav- 
ellers to  return,  there  was  a  sparkle,  and 
not  of  tears  only,  in  his  eyes.  His  mouth 
took  an  ugly  shape,  and  his  small  hand 
found  and  clutched  one  of  the  stones  on 
which  he  sat. 

Agent  Hoby  had  never  been  more  aston- 
ished in  his  life  than  when  he  returned  hot 
and  angry  and  found  him  still  there.  It 
was  the  last  thing  he  had  expected.  "  You 
little  villain ! "  he  cried,  shortening  his 
whip  in  his  hand,  and  spurring  his  horse 
on  to  the  strip  of  turf,  which  then,  as  now, 
bordered  the  road — "  how  dare  you  tell  lies 
to  the  Commons'  Commissioners  ?  " 

There  was  a  slender  gap  in  the  wall  be- 
hind the  heap  of  stones,  and  the  lad  fell 
back  into  thig,  still  clutching  his  missile  in 


He  turned  and  rode  in.— Page  9. 


A  LITTLE  WIZARD.  9 

his  hand.  "  I  told  no  lies  1 "  he  said,  look- 
ing  defiantly  at  the  angry  man.  "  You 
asked  me  for  Squire  Patten,  and  I  sent  you 
to  him — to  the  churchyard  1 " 

One  of  the  men  behind  Hoby  chuckled 
grimly ;  and  Hoby  himself,  who  had  rid- 
den with  Cromwell  at  Naseby,  and  looked 
the  Robber  Prince  in  the  eyes,  held  his 
hand.  "  You  little  whelp  I  "  he  said,  half 
in  anger  and  half  in  admiration.  "  It  is 
easy  to  see  what  brood  you  come  of  I  I 
have  half  a  mind  to  lash  your  back  for 
you !  Be  off  to  your  mammy,  and  bid  her 
whip  you !  My  hand  is  too  heavy." 

With  that,  taking  no  further  notice  of 
the  boy,  he  turned  and  rode  in  through  the 
gate.  The  aspect  of  the  house,  the  quality 
of  the  herbage,  the  size  of  the  timber,  the 
lack  of  stock,  all  claimed  at  once  his 
agent's  eye,  and  rendered  it  easy  for  him 
to  forget  the  incident.  He  grumbled  at 
the  sagacity  of  the  Roundhead  troopers, 


10  A  LITTLE  WIZARD. 

who  had  lain  a  night  at  Pattenhall  before 
Marston  Moor,  and  swept  it  as  bare  as  a 
board.  He  had  a  grunt  of  sympathy  to 
spare  for  Squire  Patten,  who,  sore  wounded 
in  the  same  fight,  had  ridden  home  to  die 
three  days  later.  He  gave  a  thought  even 
to  young  Patten,  who  had  forfeited  the  last 
chance  of  saving  his  sequestrated  estate 
by  breaking  his  parole,  and  again  appear- 
ing in  arms  against  the  Parliament.  But 
of  the  lad  crawling  slowly  along  the  path 
behind  him  he  thought  nothing.  And  the 
boy,  young  as  he  was,  felt  this  and  resented 
it. 

When  the  party  presently  reached  the 
house,  and  the  few  servants  who  remained 
came  out  obsequiously  to  receive  them,  the 
boy  felt  his  loneliness  and  sudden  insignif- 
icance still  more  keenly.  He  saw  stirrups 
held,  and  heard  terms  of  honor  passing ; 
and  he  crept  away  to  the  hayloft  to  give 
vent  to  the  tears  he  was  too  proud  to  shed. 


A  LITTLE  WIZARD.  11 

in  public.  Safe  in  this  refuge,  he  flung 
himself  down  on  the  hay  and  showed  him- 
self all  child  ;  now  sobbing  as  if  his  heart 
was  broken,  and  now  clenching  his  little 
fists  and  beating  the  air  in  impotent  pas- 
sion. 

The  solitude  to  which  he  was  left  showed 
that  he  had  good  cause  for  his  grief.  No 
one  asked  for  him,  no  one  sought  him,  who 
had  lately  been  the  most  important  person 
in  the  place.  The  loft  grew  dark,  the  win- 
dows changed  to  mere  patches  of  grey  in 
the  midst  of  blackness.  At  any  other 
time,  and  under  any  other  circumstances, 
the  child  would  have  been  afraid  to  remain 
there  alone.  But  grief  and  indignation 
swallow  up  fear,  and  in  the  darkness  he 
called  on  his  dead  father  and  mother,  and 
felt  them  nearer  than  in  the  day.  Young 
as  he  was,  the  child  could  remember  a 
time  when  his  absence  for  half  an  hour 
would  have  set  the  house  by  the  ears,  and 


12  A  LITTLE  WIZARD. 

started  a  dozen  pairs  of  legs  in  search  of 
him ;  when  loving  voices,  silent  now  for- 
ever,  would  have  cried  his  name  through 
yard  and  paddock,  and  a  score  of  servants, 
whom  death  and  dearth  had  not  yet  scat- 
tered, would  have  rushed  to  gratify  his 
smallest  need. 

No  wonder  that  at  the  thought  of  those 
days,  and  of  the  loving  care  and  gentle 
hands  which  had  guarded  him  from  hour 
to  hour,  the  solitary  child  crouching  in  the 
hay  and  darkness  cried  long  and  passion- 
ately. He  knew  little  of  the  quarrel  be- 
tween King  and  Commons,  and  nothing  of 
Laud  or  Strafford,  Pym  or  Hampden, 
Ship-money  or  the  New  Model.  But  he 
could  suffer.  He  was  old  enough  to  re- 
member and  feel,  and  compare  past  things 
with  present ;  and  understanding  that  to- 
day his  father's  house  was  passing  into  the 
hands  of  strangers,  he  experienced  all  the 
terror  and  anguish  which  a  sense  of  home* 


A  LITTLE  WIZARD.  13 

lessness  combined  with  helplessness  can  in- 
flict. Lonely  and  neglected  he  had  been 
for  some  time  now ;  but  he  had  felt  hia 
loneliness  little  (comparatively  speaking) 
until  to-day. 

Agent  Hoby  had  finished  his  supper. 
Stretching  his  legs  before  the  empty  hearth 
in  the  attitude  of  one  who  had  done  a  day's 
work,  he  was  in  the  act  of  admonishing 
Gridley  the  butler  on  his  duty  to  his  new 
master,  when  he  became  aware  of  a  slight 
movement  in  the  direction  of  the  door. 
The  panelled  walls  of  the  parlor  in  which 
he  sat  swallowed  up  the  light,  and  the 
candles  stood  in  his  way.  He  had  to  raise 
one  above  his  head  and  peer  below  it  be- 
fore he  could  make  out  anything.  When 
he  did,  and  the  face  of  the  lad  he  had  seen 
by  the  gate  grew  as  it  were  out  of  the 
panel,  his  first  feeling  was  one  of  alarm. 
He  started  and  muttered  an  exclamation, 
thinking  that  he  saw  amiss;  and  that 


14  JL  LITTLE  WIZARD. 

either  the  October  he  had  drunk  was 
stronger  than  ordinary,  or  there  was  some- 
thing uncanny  in  the  house.  When  a 
second  look,  however,  persuaded  him  that 
the  boy  was  there  in  the  flesh,  he  gave  way 
to  anger. 

"  Gridley  t "  he  said,  knitting  his  brows, 
"  who  is  this,  and  how  does  he  come  to  be 
here  ?  Is  he  one  of  your  brats,  man  ?  " 

"  One  of  mine  ? "  the  butler  answered 
stupidly. 

"  Ay,  one  of  yours !  Or  how  comes  he 
to  be  here?"  the  agent  answered  queru- 
lously, sitting  forward  with  a  hand  on  each 
arm  of  his  chair,  and  frowning  at  the  boy, 
who  returned  his  gaze  with  interest. 

The  butler  looked  at  the  lad  as  if  he 
were  considering  Mm  in  some  new  light, 
and  hesitated  before  he  answered.  "  It  is 
the  young  master,"  he  said  at  last. 

"  The  young  what  ?  "  the  agent  ex- 
claimed, leaning  still  farther  forward,  and 


A  LITTLE  WIZARD.  15 

putting  into  the  words  as  much  surprise 
as  possible. 

"  It  is  the  young  master,"  Gridley  re- 
peated sullenly.  "  And  he  is  here  in  sea- 
son, for  I  want  to  know  what  I  am  to  do 
with  him." 

"  Do  you  mean  that  he  is  a  Patten  ?  " 
Hoby  muttered,  staring  at  the  lad  as  if  he 
were  bewitched. 

"  To  be  sure,"  Gridley  answered,  looking 
also  at  the  boy. 

"  But  your  master  had  only  one  son  ? 
Those  were  my  instructions." 

*'  Two,"  said  the  butler.  "  Master  Fran- 
cis—" 

"  Who  is  with  Duke  Hamilton  in  Scot- 
land, and  if  caught  in  arms  in  England 
will  hang,"  rejoined  the  agent,  sternly. 
"Well?" 

**  And  this  one." 

Hoby  glared  at  the  boy  as  if  he  would 
eat  him.  To  find  that  the  estate,  which 


16 

he  had  considered  free  from  embarrassing 
claims,  was  burdened  with  a  child,  annoyed 
him  beyond  measure.  The  warrants  un- 
der which  he  acted  overrode,  of  course,  all 
rights  and  all  privileges ;  in  the  eye  of  the 
law  the  boy  before  him  had  no  more  to  do 
with  the  old  house  and  the  wide  acres  than 
the  meanest  peasant  who  had  a  hovel  on 
the  land.  But  the  agent  was  a  humane 
man,  and  in  his  way  a  just  one;  and 
though  he  had  been  well  content  to  ignore 
the  malignant  young  reprobate  whom  he 
had  hitherto  considered  the  only  claimant, 
he  was  vexed  to  find  there  was  another, 
more  innocent  and  more  helpless. 

"  He  must  have  relations,"  he  said  at 
last,  after  rubbing  his  closely  cropped  head 
with  an  air  of  much  perplexity.  "He 
must  go  to  them." 

"  He  has  none  alive  that  I  know  of,w  the 
butler  answered  stolidly.  He  was  a  high- 
shouldered,  fat-faced  man,  with  sly  eyes. 


A  LITTLE  WIZARD.  Yt 

"  There  are  no  other  Pattens  ?  "  quotb 
Hoby. 

"  Not  so  much  as  an  old  maid." 

"  Then  he  must  go  to  his  mother's  peo- 
ple." 

"  She  was  Cornish,"  Gridley  answered, 
with  a  slight  grin.  "  Her  family  were  out 
with  Sir  Balph  Hopton,  and  are  now  in 
Holland,  I  hear." 

Repulsed  on  all  sides,  the  agent  rose 
from  his  chair.  "  Well,  bring  him  to  me 
in  the  morning,"  he  said  irritably,  "  and  I 
will  see  what  can  be  done.  His  matter  can 
wait.  For  yourself,  however,  make  up 
your  mind,  my  man ;  go  or  stay  as  you 
please.  But  if  you  stay  it  can  only  be 
upon  my  conditions.  You  understand 
that  ?  "  he  added  with  with  some  asperity. 

Gridley  assented  with  a  corresponding 
smack  of  sullenness  in  his  tone,  and  tak- 
ing the  hint,  bore  off  the  boy  to  bed. 
Soon  the  few  lights,  which  still  shone  in 


18  A  LITTLE  WIZARD. 

the  great  house  that  had  so  quietly 
changed  masters,  died  out  one  by  one; 
until  all  lay  black  and  silent,  except  one 
small  room,  low-ceiled,  musty,  and  dark- 
panelled,  which  lay  to  the  right  of  the 
hall,  but  a  step  or  two  below  its  level. 
This  room  was  the  butler's  pantry  and 
sleeping-chamber.  The  plate  which  had 
once  glittered  on  its  shelves,  the  silver 
flagons  and  Sheffield  cups,  the  spice  bowls 
and  sugar-basins,  were  gone,  devoted  these 
five  years  past  to  the  melting-pot  and  the 
Royal  cause.  The  club  and  blunderbuss 
which  should  have  guarded  them  re- 
mained, however,  in  their  slings  beside  the 
bed  ;  along  with  some  show  of  dingy  pew- 
ter and  dingier  blackjacks,  and  as  many 
empty  bottles  as  served  at  once  to  litter 
the  gloomy  little  dungeon  and  prove  that 
the  old  squire's  cellar  was  not  yet  empty. 

In  the  midst  of  this  disorder,  and  in  no 
way  incommoded  by  the  close  atmosphere 


A  LITTLE  WIZARD.  1» 

of  the  room,  which  reeked  of  beer  and 
stale  liquors,  the  butler  sat  thinking  far 
into  the  night.  On  the  table  beside  him, 
which  had  been  cleared  to  make  room  for 
it,  lay  an  open  Bible  ;  but  as  he  never  con* 
suited  its  pages  or  even  looked  towards  it, 
we  may  assume  that  it  lay  there  rather 
for  show  than  use,  and  possibly  had  been 
arranged  for  the  express  purpose  of  catch- 
ing the  eye  of  Master  Hoby  should  he 
push  his  inquiries  as  far  as  this  apart- 
ment. 

Heedless  or  forgetful  of  it,  Gridley  now 
sat  staring  into  vacancy,  with  a  dark  ex- 
pression on  his  face.  Now  and  again  he 
bit  his  finger-nails  as  if  some  problem  of 
more  than  ordinary  importance  occupied 
his  thoughts.  His  aspect  too  was  changed 
in  sympathy  with  the  dark  hours  of  the 
night.  Fear  and  anticipation,  greed  and 
cunning,  peered  from  behind  the  mask  of 
sly  composure  which  he  had  worn  in  the 


20  A  LITTLE  WIZARD. 

parlor.  He  had  now  the  air  of  a  man  who 
would  and  dare  not,  and  then  again  who 
would  not  shrink  at  risks.  At  last  he 
rose  with  his  mind  made  up,  and  creeping 
to  the  door  secured  it.  With  a  stealthy 
glance  round,  he  next  extinguished  the 
light,  plunging  the  room  into  darkness. 
After  that  he  was  still  to  be  heard  shuff- 
ling about  for  some  time,  but  of  his  actions 
or  the  business  on  which  he  was  bent  noth- 
ing could  be  known  for  certain.  Only 
once  a  rich  ringing  sound  as  of  metal  on 
metal  surprised  the  silence,  and  hanging  on 
the  air — for  an  eternity  as  it  seemed  to  his 
alarmed  ear — died  reluctantly  in  the  hol- 
lows of  the  pewter  flagons  on  the  shelf. 
It  was  nothing,  it  was  the  merest  tinkle, 
it  could  scarcely  have  awakened  the  sus- 
picions of  the  most  critical  listener.  But 
the  man  who  made  the  sound  and  heard 
the  sound  was  a  coward  with  an  evil  con- 
science ;  and  for  a  full  minute  after  the 


A  LITTLE  WIZARD,  21 

last  echo  had  whispered  itself  away,  he 
crouched  on  the  floor,  with  the  cold  dew  on 
his  brow  and  his  hand  shaking.  After 
that,  silence. 

Little  Jack  Patten,  awaking  suddenly 
as  the  first  glimmer  of  dawn  entered  his 
room,  found  the  butler  standing  by  his 
side.  The  boy  would  have  cried  out,  not 
knowing  him  in  the  half  light,  but  Gridley 
muttered  his  name,  and  enjoining  silence 
with  a  finger  on  his  lip,  sat  down  on  the 
pallet  by  the  lad's  side. 

"  What  is  it  ?  "  Jack  said,  sitting  up. 
The  man's  cautious  and  apprehensive  air, 
no  less  than  the  gloom  which  still  filled 
the  room  and  rendered  objects  indistinct, 
scared  him. 

"  Hush  !  "  the  butler  answered  in  a  low 
voice,  "  and  listen  to  me,  Jack.  I  have 
been  thinking  about  you.  You  know  this 
house  is  not  yours  any  longer.  It  will  be 
shut  up,  and  there  will  be  none  but  Round- 


22  A  LITTLE  WIZARD. 

headed  soldiers  here,  and  the  man  below 
will  be  master.  You  don't  want  to  staj 
here  and  eat  his  bread  ?  " 

The  boy  shook  his  head.  But,  even  as 
he  shook  it,  the  tears  rose  to  his  eyes. 
For  where  was  he  to  go?  Yesterday's 
events,  his  friendlessness  and  helplessness, 
recurred  to  his  mind  in  a  rush  of  bitter 
memories. 

"  Would  you  like  to  come  away  with 
me  ?  "  Gridley  muttered,  keenly  watching 
the  effect  of  his  words. 

Jack  peered  at  him  doubtfully.  The 
butler  had  not  been  so  kind  to  him  of  late 
as  to  give  this  proposal  an  air  of  complete 
naturalness.  The  manner  and  the  tone  of 
it  were  strange  even  in  the  child's  judg- 
ment. "  Where  are  you  going  ?  "  he  asked 
cautiously. 

"  To  my  home,"  said  the  butler,  licking 
his  lips,  as  if  they  were  dry. 

"  It  is  on  the  moors,  is  it  not  ?  n 


J.  LITTLE  WIZARD.  23 

The  butler  nodded. 

"  Above  Pateley  ?  " 

"  It  is  many  a  mile  above  Pateley — up, 
up,  up ;  ay,  miles  above  it." 

The  child's  eyes  glistened  at  that.  The 
moors  were  his  fairyland.  He  had  passed 
many  and  many  a  happy  hour  in  dreaming  of 
the  marvellous  things  which  lay  beyond  the 
purple  hills  to  westward ;  the  rugged 
broken  line  behind  which  the  sun  went 
down  each  day  in  a  glory  of  crimson  or 
orange.  That  line,  he  knew,  was  the  be- 
ginning of  the  moors.  The  blue  distance 
beyond  it  he  had  peopled  with  his  own 
visions  of  giants  and  dwarfs,  and  witches 
and  warlocks,  and  added  besides  all  the 
tales  which  passed  current  in  Pattenhall 
and  the  low  country  of  doings  in  tj  moors. 
He  knew  the  moor  people  kept  to  them- 
selves  and  were  wild  and  savage,  inhabit- 
ing hills  a  mile  high  and  valleys  miles  in 
depth ;  and  he  longed  to  visit  them  and 


24  A  LITTLE  WIZARD. 

see  these  things  for  himself.  His  eyes 
dried  quickly  as  he  listened  to  Gridley, 
and  eagerly  asked,  "  Above  Pateley  ?  " 
which  was  the  boundary  of  his  known 
world,  "  miles  and  miles  above  Pateley, 
Gridley  ?  " 

"  Ay,  up  Skipton  way." 

"  Is  that  in  the  heart  of  the  moors, 
Gridley  ?  " 

"  There  is  no  other  heart,"  the  butler 
answered  gruffly,  "  unless,  maybe,  it  is 
Settle.  And  it  is  Settle  side  of  Skipton." 

"  Are  you  going  now  ?  "  the  lad  said  im- 
pulsively, standing  up  straight  in  his  bed, 
with  his  brown  eyes  staring  and  his 
fair  cheeks  glowing  with  anticipation  and 
excitement. 

"  This  very  minute." 

"  I'll  come  with  you  I  You  will  let  me 
dress,  Gridley  ?  " 

"  Ay,  dress  quickly.  We  must  be  away 
before  any  one  is  awake." 


A  LITTLE  WIZARD.  25 

"  I'll  be  quick !  "  Jack  answered. 

He  was  too  young  to  see  anything 
strange  in  the  hurry  and  secrecy  of  such 
a  departure.  The  troubles  of  the  times 
had  made  him  familiar  with  abrupt  com- 
ings and  goings.  He  trembled,  it  is  true, 
as  he  stole  down  the  dark  staircase  on  tip- 
toe and  clinging  to  the  butler's  hand ;  but 
it  was  with  excitement,  not  fear.  He  felt 
no  surprise  at  finding  one  of  the  great 
plough-horses  standing  saddled  in  its  stall ; 
nor  did  the  size  of  the  wallets  which  he 
saw  behind  the  saddle  arouse  any  doubt  or 
suspicion  in  his  mind.  Gridley's  haste  to 
be  gone,  the  trembling  which  seized  the 
butler  as  they  crossed  the  farmyard,  the 
frequent  glances  he  cast  behind  him  until 
the  road  was  fairly  gained,  seemed  to  the 
boy  natural  enough.  All  Jack  knew  was 
that  he  was  leaving  his  enemies  behind 
him.  They  had  killed  his  father  and  ex- 
iled his  brother.  Naturally  he  feared  and 


26  A  LITTLE  WIZARD. 

hated  them.  He  was  too  young  to  under 
stand  that  he  stood  in  no  peril  himself,  but 
that  on  the  contrary  his  proper  disposal 
had  caused  Master  Hoby  the  loss  of  at 
least  an  hour's  sleep. 

Before  it  was  fairly  light  the  fugitives 
were  already  a  mile  away.  The  boy  rode 
behind  Gridley,  clinging  to  a  strap  passed 
round  the  latter's  waist ;  and  the  two  jogged 
along  comfortably  enough  as  far  as  the 
body  was  concerned,  though  it  was  evident 
that  Gridley's  anxiety  was  little  if  at  all 
allayed.  They  shunned  the  highway,  and 
went  by  hedge  paths  and  bridle-roads, 
which  avoided  houses  and  villages.  When 
the  sun  rose  the  two  were  already  five  or 
six  miles  from  Pattenhall,  in  a  country 
new  to  the  lad,  though  sufficiently  like  his 
own  to  whet  his  curiosity  instead  of  satis- 
fying  it. 

"How  far  are  we  from  the  moors, 
Gridley  ?  "  he  asked  as  often  as  he  dared. 


A  LITTLE  WIZARD.  27 

for  the  butler's  temper  seemed  uncertain. 
41  Shall  we  be  there  to  breakfast  ?  " 

"  Ay,  we'll  be  there  to  breakfast,"  was 
the  usual  answer. 

And  presently,  to  the  boy's  delight,  the 
country  began  to  trend  upwards,  the  path 
grew  steeper.  The  coppices  and  hedge- 
rows, the  clumps  of  elms  and  oaks  and 
beeches,  which  had  hidden  the  higher  pros- 
pects from  his  eyes,  and  almost  persuaded 
him  that  he  was  making  no  progress,  be- 
gan to  grow  more  sparse ;  until  at  last 
they  failed  altogether,  and  he  saw  before 
him  a  rising  slope  of  marsh  and  moorland, 
swelling  here  and  there  into  rocky  ridges, 
between  which  the  sycamores  and  ashes 
grew  in  stunted  bunches.  Above  he  raised 
his  eyes  to  a  heaven  wider  and  more  open 
than  that  to  which  he  was  accustomed  ; 
while  lark  beyond  lark,  soaring  each 
higher  than  the  other,  seemed  striving 
which  should  celebrate  most  fitly  the 


28  A  LITTLE  WIZARD. 

balmy  air  and  warm  sunshine  •which 
flooded  all. 

"  Are  these  the  moors,  Gridley  ?  "  the 
boy  asked  with  delight. 

"  These,  the  moors  ?  "  the  man  answered, 
with  the  first  smile  he  had  allowed  himself 
that  morning.  "  You  wait  a  bit,  and 
you'll  see  1 " 

His  tone  was  not  encouraging,  but  as  he 
hastened  to  give  the  lad  his  breakfast  and 
a  drink  of  beer,  Jack  passed  over  the 
change  of  manner,  and  rocking  himself 
from  side  to  side,  as  far  as  the  strap  would 
let  him,  went  merrily  upwards,  munching 
as  he  rode.  Over  Pateley  Bridge  and 
Pateley  moors  they  went,  and  upwards 
still  to  Bewerley  Fell,  whence  they  saw 
the  Riding  stretched  like  a  picture  behind 
them.  Jack  fancied,  but  that  was  im- 
possible, that  he  could  see  the  chimneys 
and  the  great  oak  at  Pattenhall.  Leaving 
Bewerley  they  skirted  Hebdon  Moor  on 


A  LITTLE  WIZARD.  2S 

the  north  side,  rising  here  so  high  that 
Jack  could  see  nothing  on  either  hand  but 
horrid  crags,  and  ridges  of  grey  limestone 
and  vast  slopes  of  grey  rock.  Here,  too, 
there  was  little  turf  and  no  heather,  but 
only  stone-crop  and  saxifrages,  with  cruel 
quagmires  and  bogs  in  the  hollows.  The 
very  sky  seemed  changed.  It  grew  dark 
and  overcast,  and  clouds  and  mist  gathered 
round  the  travellers,  hiding  the  path,  yet 
disclosing  from  time  to  time  the  huge 
brow  of  Ingleborough  or  the  flat  head  of 
Penighent.  The  wind  moaned  across  the 
grey  steeps,  and  a  small  rain  began  to  fall 
and  quickly  wet  them  to  the  skin. 

The  boy  shuddered.  "Are  these  the 
moors  ?  "  he  asked. 

"Ay,  these  are  the  moors!"  his  com- 
panion answered  grimly.  "  And  moorland 
weather.  Yon's  the  High  Moors  and  Mai- 
ham  Tarn.  Your  eyes  are  young.  Do 
you  see  a  grey  spot  in  the  nook  to  the 


30  A  LITTLE  WIZARD. 

right,  yonder,  two  miles  away !  That  ia 
Little  Howe,  and  we  are  bound  for  it." 

"  Who  lives  there  ?  "  Jack  answered,  as 
he  looked  drearily  over  the  desolate  up- 
land. 

"  My  brother,"  the  butler  answered, 
with  a  touch  of  ferocity  in  his  tone. 
"  Simon  Gridley,  he  is  called,  and  you  will 
know  him  soon  enough." 


A  LITTLE  WIZAKD.  31 

CHAPTER  II. 
MALHAM  man  MOORS. 

STILL  nearly  an  hour  elapsed  before  the 
tired  horse  stopped  at  the  door  of  the 
small  grey  dwelling  which  Gridley  had 
pointed  out.  The  house,  a  rough  farm- 
stead of  four  rooms,  stood  high  in  a  nook 
of  the  moor,  facing  Ingleborough.  A  few 
yew-trees  filled  the  narrowing  dell  behind 
it  with  black  shadow ;  a  low  wall  of  loose 
stones  which  joined  one  ridge  to  another 
formed  a  fold  before  it.  The  clatter  of 
hoofs,  as  the  horse  climbed  the  rocky  slope 
leading  to  the  house,  brought  out  a  man 
and  woman,  who,  leaning  on  this  wall, 
watched  the  couple  approach. 

The  aspect  of  the  man  was  stern,  dry, 
and  austere ;  in  a  word,  at  one  with  the 
harsh  and  rugged  scene  in  which  he  lived. 
His  gloomy  eyes  and  square  jaw  seemed 


32  A  LITTLE  WIZARD. 

signs  of  a  character  resolute,  narrow, 
bigoted,  and  it  might  be  cruel.  At  first 
sight  the  woman  appeared  a  helpmeet  well 
suited  to  him.  Her  narrow  forehead  and 
thin  lips,  her  pinched  nose  and  small  blue 
eyes,  seemed  the  reproduction  in  a  femi- 
nine mould  of  his  more  massive  features. 
Despite  this,  she  constantly  produced  upon 
strangers  a  less  favorable  impression  than 
he  did;  and  though  this  impression  was 
rarely  understood,  it  lingered  long  and 
faded  slowly  if  at  all. 

The  aspect  of  the  two  as  they  stood  side 
by  side  was  so  forbidding,  that  the  child, 
faint  with  fatigue  and  disappointment,  had 
hard  work  to  repress  his  tears.  Nor  was 
the  uneasiness  confined  to  him  only,  for 
the  butler's  voice,  when  he  raised  it  to 
greet  his  kinsfolk,  sounded  unnatural. 
His  words  tumbled  over  one  another,  and 
he  alighted  with  a  fussiness  which  be* 
trayed  itsel£ 


A  LITTLE  WIZARD.  33 

On  the  other  side  the  most  absolute 
composure  existed ;  so  that  presently  the 
man's  fulsome  words  died  on  his  lips. 
"  Why,  brother,"  he  stammered,  with 
something  of  a  whine,  "you  are  glad  to 
see  me  ?  " 

"  It  may  be,  and  again  it  may  not  be," 
the  other  answered  grimly. 

"  How  so  ? "  Gridley  asked,  changing 
countenance. 

"  Have  you  turned  your  back  on  the 
flesh-pots  for  good?"  was  the  severe  re- 
sponse. "  Have  you  come  out  of  Egypt 
and  away  from  its  abominations  ?  For  I 
will  have  no  malignants  here,  nor  those 
who  eat  their  bread  and  grow  fat  on  their 
vices?  If  you  have  left  the  tents  of 
Kedar,  then  you  are  welcome  here.  But 
if  not,  pass  on." 

"  I  have  left  Pattenhall,  if  that  is  what 
you  mean,"  the  younger  brother  answered 
sullenly. 


34  A  LITTLE  WIZARD. 

"  And  its  service  ?  " 

"  Ay,  and  its  service." 

"  Who  is  the  lad  you  have  with  you  ?  " 
Simon  Gridley  asked  keenly. 

"  He  is  a  Patten,"  the  butler  answered 
reluctantly;  "but  he  has  neither  house 
not*  land,  nor  more  in  the  world  than  the 
clothes  he  stands  up  in." 

The  answer  took  both  the  man  and  the 
woman  by  surprise.  They  stood  gazing 
as  with  one  accord  at  the  boy,  who,  with 
his  lips  trembling,  changed  feet  and  shifted 
his  eyes  from  one  stern  face  to  another. 

"  I  have  heard  something  of  that,"  the 
elder  Gridley  said,  with  a  stern  smile. 

"  He  comes  of  a  bad  brood." 

"  Nevertheless,  you  will  not  refuse  him 
shelter,"  his  brother  answered.  "  He  is  a 
child,  and  I  have  nowhere  else  to  take 
him." 

"  Why  take  him  at  all  ?  "  the  Puritan 
snarled  fiercely.  "  What  have  you  to  do 


A  LITTLE  WIZARD.  35 

with  the  children  of  transgression  ?  Have 
you  not  sins  enough  of  your  own  to  an- 
swer  for  ?  " 

The  butler  did  not  reply,  and  for  a 
moment  the  boy's  fate  seemed  to  hang  in 
the  balance.  Then  the  woman  spoke. 
"  Bring  him  in,"  she  said  harshly  and  sud- 
denly. "  It  may  be  that  he  is  a  brand 
snatched  from  the  burning." 

She  spoke  with  authority,  and  her  words 
seemed  to  be  accepted  as  a  final  decision. 
Gridley  pulled  the  child  sharply  by  the 
arm,  and,  himself  wearing  a  somewhat 
hangdog  expression,  led  him  across  the 
fold  and  through  the  doorway,  the  others 
following.  The  scene  outside,  the  leaden 
sky  and  grey  moor  and  falling  rain,  had 
reduced  the  boy  to  the  depth  of  misery ; 
the  interior  to  which  he  was  introduced 
did  little  to  comfort  him.  The  hearth  was 
fireless,  the  stone  floor  bare  and  unstrewn, 
A  couple  of  great  chests,  a  chair  and  two 


38  A.  LITTLE  WIZARD. 

stools,  formed,  with  a  table,  a  spinning- 
wheel,  and  a  rude  loom,  the  only  furniture. 
The  rafters  displayed  none  of  the  plenty 
which  Jack  was  accustomed  to  see  in 
kitchens,  for  neither  flitch  nor  puddings 
adorned  them,  but  in  the  window-seat  a 
gaunt  elderly  man  with  a  long  grey  beard 
sat  reading  a  large  Bible.  He  looked  up 
dreamily  when  the  party  entered,  but  said 
nothing,  the  rapt  expression  of  his  face 
seeming  to  show  that  he  was  virtually  un- 
conscious of  their  presence. 

"  Luke  is  the  same  as  ever  ?  "  the  butler 
said  in  a  low  voice  to  his  sister-in-law. 

"  He  has  his  visions,  if  that  is  what  you 
mean,"  she  answered  tartly.  "  Same  as 
he  ever  had,  and  clearer  of  late.  Set  the 
child  there.  You  are  hungry,  I  dare  say. 
Well,  you'll  have  to  wait.  In  an  hour  it 
will  be  supper-time,  and  in  an  hour  you 
will  have  your  supper.  But  you  will  get 
ao  Pattenhall  dainties  here." 


A  LITTLE  WIZARD.  37 

The  elder  Gridley  went  to  the  loom  and 
began  to  work,  while  his  brother,  repress- 
ing a  sigh  of  discontent,  sat  down  and 
gazed  at  the  hearth,  regretting  already  the 
step  he  had  taken.  Mistress  Gridley 
looked  fixedly  and  with  compressed  lips 
at  the  boy,  who  sat  in  the  cold  chimney 
corner,  too  much  terrified  to  cry.  The  only 
sounds  which  broke  the  dreary  stillness  of 
the  house  were  the  rattling  of  the  loom 
and  the  murmur  of  Luke  Gridley's  voice, 
as  his  tongue  followed  the  mechanical 
movement  of  his  finger. 

Such  was  their  reception ;  the  child, 
hungry  and  fear-stricken,  thought  with  a 
bursting  heart  of  the  home  he  had  left,  of 
the  friends  and  the  very  dogs  of  Patten- 
hall,  its  trees  and  sunshine,  and  warm 
kitchen.  The  grim  silence  of  the  room, 
the  woman's  cruel  eyes,  the  bareness  and 
greyness,  seemed  to  crush  him  with  an 
iron  hand,  so  that  it  was  only  by  an  effort, 


38  A  LITTLE  WIZARD. 

almost  beyond  his  years,  that  he  repressed 
a  scream  of  passionate  revolt. 

Nor  did  he  suffer  alone.  The  butler, 
despite  the  care  with  which  he  hid  his  feel- 
ings, was  little  more  at  home  in  his  com- 
pany. He  had  no  longer  anything  in 
common  with  his  kinsfolk.  In  his  heart 
he  cringed  before  their  rugged  natures  as 
a  guilty  dog  crouches  before  its  master. 
But  he  had  thoughts  of  his  own  and  a 
purpose  to  serve ;  and  'this  enabled  him  to 
put  a  good  face  on  the  matter,  or  at  least 
to  endure  with  a  wry  smile. 

The  scanty  meal  of  cheese  and  oatmeal 
eaten,  and  Luke's  long  extemporary  prayer 
brought  to  an  end,  the  strangers  were 
taken  to  one  of  the  two  upper  rooms.  In 
five  minutes  the  tired  child  was  asleep; 
not  so  his  companion.  Gridley,  fatigued 
as  he  was,  lay  and  watched  the  last  glim- 
mer of  daylight  die  away,  and  then,  when 
all  the  house  was  dark  and  quiet,  he  sat 


A  LITTLE  WIZARD.  39 

up  and  listened.  His  wallets  lay  on  the 
floor  beside  him.  He  rose  and  crawled  to 
them,  and  for  a  long  time  crouched  on  the 
boards  by  them,  thinking.  He  wanted  a 
hiding-place — before  morning  he  must  have 
a  hiding-place;  but  the  scanty  furniture 
of  the  room  afforded  none.  This  he  had 
not  anticipated,  and  the  perplexity  into 
which  it  threw  him  was  so  largely  mingled 
with  fear,  that  he  fancied  the  loud  beating 
of  his  heart  must  attract  attention  even 
through  the  walls.  After  some  minutes 
of  misery  he  made  up  his  mind,  and  rising 
from  the  floor  crept  to  the  door  and  opened 
it.  All  was  so  still  in  the  house  that  he 
took  fresh  courage.  He  went  back  to  his 
wallets,  and  drawing  something  from  them 
stole  on  tiptoe  down  the  stairs,  each  creak- 
ing board — and  there  were  many — throw- 
ing him  into  a  cold  perspiration.  "When  a 
coward  gives  himself  to  wickedness,  he 
pays  dearly  for  his  fancy. 


40  A  LITTLE  WIZARD. 

The  staircase  opened  directly  into  the 
kitchen,  where  he  stood  awhile  listening 
on  the  hearth.  Luke,  the  preacher,  slept 
in  the  back-room,  and  the  door  seemed  to 
be  ajar.  Gridley  felt  his  way  through  the 
darkness  to  it  and  softly  closed  it.  Then 
he  peered  round  him.  Where  could  he 
hide  what  he  had  to  hide  ?  Memory,  con- 
juring up  the  objects  round  him,  suggested 
one  place  after  another,  but  in  each  case  he 
foresaw  the  possibility  of  accident.  The 
linen-chest  ?  Mistress  Gridley  might  take 
it  into  her  head  to  inspect  her  store  of 
linen.  The  under-part  of  the  sink  ?  She 
might  be  about  to  clean  it.  The  dresser 
was  out  of  the  question.  He  decided  at 
last  on  the  oatmeal  chest,  and  groping  his 
way  to  it  found  it,  to  his  delight,  unlocked 
and  half  full.  The  objects  he  had  to  hide 
were  small ;  he  ran  little  risk,  he  thought, 
if  he  buried  them  near  the  bottom  of  the 
meal 


A  LITTLE  WIZARD.  41 

After  pausing  again  to  listen  and  assure 
himself  that  he  was  not  watched,  he 
plunged  his  treasure  deep  in  the  soft  meal. 
Then  with  trembling  hands  he  drew  the 
stuff  over  it,  jealously  smoothing  and  pat- 
ting the  surface  in  his  fear  lest  daylight 
should  disclose  some  signs  of  what  he  had 
been  about.  This  done,  and  as  he  be- 
lieved, effectually,  he  heaved  a  sigh  of  re- 
lief, and  laid  his  hand  on  the  lid  of  the 
chest  to  close  it.  At  that  moment  a  thin 
ray  of  light  pierced  the  darkness  in  which 
he  stood,  and  falling  across  the  floor  of  the 
kitchen,  chilled  him  to  the  heart. 

Even  in  his  panic  he  had  sufficient  pres- 
ence of  mind  to  close  the  lid  softly,  but  the 
act  detained  him  so  long  that  he  had  no 
chance  of  moving  away  from  the  chest ; 
and  there  Mistress  Gridley  found  him 
when  she  entered,  with  her  rushlight 
shaded,  and  her  small  eyes  gleaming  tri- 
umphantly behind  it. 


42  A  LITTLE  WIZARD. 

u  Ho  I  ho  1 "  she  said,  in  a  whisper ;  "  I 
have  caught  a  rat,  have  I  ?  " 

"  I  was  hungry,"  he  stammered,  recoil- 
ing before  her,  "  and  came  down  to  see  if 
there  was  any  porridge  left." 

"  You  lie  1 "  she  answered  contemptu- 
ously, pointing  to  his  hands  as  she  spoke. 
They  were  covered  with  oatmeal.  "  I 
know  you  of  old.  You  have  been  hiding 
something.  Let  me  see  what  it  is." 

For  a  moment,  despair  giving  him  cour- 
age, he  raised  his  hand  as  if  he  would 
have  done  her  some  injury;  but  the 
woman's  eyes  cowed  him.  "  Hold  the 
light,  fool  I  "  she  said.  "  Let  me  see  what 
you  have  got  here." 

She  rummaged  an  instant  in  the  meal, 
and  presently,  with  an  abrupt  exclama- 
tion, drew  out  something  which  glittered 
as  she  held  it  up.  It  was  a  small  gold 
cup.  As  she  turned  it  to  and  fro,  and  the 
light  which  trembled  in  the  man's  craven 


A  LITTLE  WIZARD.  43 

hands  played  quiveringly  on  the  burnished 
surface  of  the  metal,  her  eyes  glistened 
with  avarice.  She  drew  a  long  breath. 
"  It  is  gold  1 "  she  muttered  wonderingly. 

The  wretched  Gridley  murmured  that 
it  was. 

Glancing  at  him  askance,  and  still 
clutching  the  cup  as  if  she  feared  he 
might  snatch  it  from  her,  she  plunged  her 
other  hand  into  the  meal,  and  drew  out  in 
quick  succession  a  flagon  and  a  small  plate 
of  the  same  precious  metal.  Such  success, 
as  one  came  forth  after  the  other,  almost 
frightened  her.  She  gazed  at  the  spoils 
with  all  her  greedy  soul  in  her  eyes.  She 
had  never  handled  such  things  before,  and 
scarcely  ever  seen  them,  but  with  intuitive 
avarice  she  knew  their  value,  and  loved 
them,  and  clutched  them  to  her  breast. 
"  You  stole  them  1 "  she  hissed.  "  They 
are  from  some  church.  Tell  me  the  truth." 

"  They  have  been  hidden  at  the  Hall— 


44  A  LITTLE  WIZARD. 

since  before  the  Squire's  death,"  he  stam- 
mered. 

She  held  them  out  again  and  looked 
lovingly  at  them.  When  she  turned  to 
him  again,  it  was  to  wave  him  off.  "  Go !  " 
she  said  fiercely,  "  they  are  not  yours.  I 
shall  take  them.  I  shall  give  them  to — " 

"  Your  husband  ?  "  he  retorted  desper- 
ately, moved  to  boldness  and  action  by 
the  imminence  of  the  danger.  "  Your  hus- 
band ?  He  would  call  them  the  accursed 
thing,  and  grind  them  to  powder  and  strew 
them  on  Malham  Tarn.  What  would  you 
gain  by  that  ?  " 

She  scowled  at  him,  knowing  that  what 
he  said  was  true  ;  and  so  they  stood  a  mo- 
ment gazing  breathlessly  at  one  another. 
Before  he  spoke  again  their  eyes  had 
made  an  unholy  compact.  "  Let  them 
remain  here,  and  do  you  play  fair,"  he 
said  slowly,  "  and  I  will  give  you  the  large 
one." 


A  LITTLE  WIZARD.  45 

"  I  might  take  all,"  she  muttered  jeal- 
ously. 

"  No,"  he  snarled,  showing  his  teeth ;  "  I 
should  tell  him." 

Her  eyes  fell  at  that,  so  that  it  scarcely 
needed  the  slight  shiver  which  passed  over 
her  to  assure  him  that  he  had  touched  the 
right  chord.  Smooth  and  hypocritical, 
and,  like  all  hypocrites,  afraid  of  some  one, 
she  feared  above  all  things  her  husband's 
stern  and  pitiless  code  ;  knowing  that  no 
offence  could  seem  more  heinous  or  less 
pardonable  in  his  eyes  than  this  dally- 
ing with  the  accursed  thing,  this  sin  of 
Achan. 

So  the  compact  was  made.  The  larger 
vessel  was  hidden  at  one  end  of  the  meal- 
tub,  the  two  smaller  vessels  at  the  other 
end.  Each  accomplice  showed  the  same 
reluctance  to  trust  the  other,  the  same  un- 
willingness to  take  leave  of  the  spoil ;  but 
at  last  the  chest  was  closed,  and  the  two 


46  A  LITTLE  WIZARD. 

prepared  to  retire.  Then  a  thought 
seemed  to  strike  Mistress  Gridley.  "  Why 
have  you  brought  that  brat  here  ?  "  she 
whispered,  as  they  prepared  to  mount  the 
stairs.  "  Don't  talk  to  me  of  gratitude, 
man  1  Tell  me  the  truth." 

He  shifted  his  feet,  and  would  have 
fenced  with  her,  but  she  knew  him,  and  he 
gave  way.  "  Times  may  change,"  he  said. 
"  The  land  and  the  house  may  come  back. 
Then  it  will  be  well  to  know  where  the  lad 
is." 

"  Umph  !  "  she  said.  "  I  see." 
Perhaps  her  knowledge  of  the  butler's 
plan  prevented  her  being  actively  cruel  to 
the  child.  On  the  other  hand,  neither  she 
nor  any  one  gave  him  a  word  or  look  of 
kindness.  He  had  no  place  among  them. 
Luke  was  wrapt  in  visions.  Simon  was 
too  sternly  self-oontained,  too  completely 
under  the  mastery  of  his  cold  and  ascetic 
faith,  to  give  thought  or  word  to  the  boy. 


A  LITTLE  WIZARD.  47 

The  other  two  had  the  meal  chest  to 
guard  and  each  other  to  watch. 

He  was  left  to  feel  the  full  influence  of 
the  grey  moorland  life.  The  dismal  still- 
ness of  the  house,  the  lengthy  prayers 
and  repellent  faces,  drove  him  out  of 
doors  ;  the  silence  and  solitude  of  the  fells, 
which  even  in  sunshine,  when  the  peewits 
screamed  and  flew  in  circles,  and  the  sky 
was  blue  above,  were  dreary  and  lonesome, 
scared  him  back  to  the  house.  Once  a 
week  the  family  went  four  miles  to  a 
meeting-house,  where  Luke  Gridley  and 
a  Bradford  weaver  preached  by  turns. 
But  this  was  the  only  break  in  his  life,  if  a 
break  it  could  be  called.  In  Simon's  creed 
boyhood  and  youth  held  no  place. 

Rumors  of  trouble  and  war,  moreover, 
diverted  from  the  child  some  of  the  atten- 
tion which  the  elder  people  might  other- 
wise have  paid  him.  Sir  Marmaduke 
Langdale's  riders,  scouting  in  front  of  the 


48  A  LITTLE  WIZARD. 

army  which  Duke  Hamilton  had  raised  in 
Scotland,  were  reported  to  be  no  farther 
off  than  Appleby.  Any  day  they  might 
descend  on  Settle,  or  a  handful  of  them 
pass  the  farmstead,  and  levy  contributions 
in  the  old  high-handed  Royalist  fashion. 
Simon  and  Luke,  wearing  grimmer  faces 
than  usual,  cleaned  their  pikes,  and  got 
out  the  old  buff-coats  which  had  lain  by 
since  Naseby,  and  held  long  conferences 
with  their  friends  at  Settle.  The  boy, 
aimless  and  without  companions,  acquired 
a  habit  of  wandering  in  and  out  during 
these  preparations,  and  more  than  once  his 
pale  face  and  dwarfish  form  appearing  sud- 
denly in  their  midst  gave  Luke  Gridley, 
who  was  apt  to  weave  what  he  saw  into 
the  unsubstantial  texture  of  his  dreams,  a 
start  beyond  the  ordinary. 

"  Who  is  that  child  ?  "  he  said  one  day, 
looking  after  him  with  a  troubled  face. 
u  There  used  to  be  no  child  here." 


A  LITTLE  WIZARD.  49 

"  The  child  ?  "  Simon  exclaimed,  glanc- 
ing at  him  impatiently.  "  "What  has  the 
child  to  do  with  us  ?  Let  it  be." 

"  Let  it  be  ? "  said  the  other,  softly. 
"  Ay,  for  a  season.  For  a  season.  Yet 
remember  that  it  is  written,  *  A  child 
shall  discover  the  matter.' " 

"  Tush ! "  Simon  answered  angrily. 
11  This  is  folly.  Isn't  it  written  also,  re- 
sist the  devil,  and  he  will  fly  from  you  i " 

"  Ay,  the  devil — and  his  angels,"  Luke 
repeated  gently. 

Simon  shrugged  his  shoulders.  Never- 
theless he  too,  when  he  next  met  the  lad 
wandering  aimlessly  about,  looked  at  him 
with  new  eyes.  Though  he  was  subject 
to  no  active  delusions  himself,  he  had  a 
strong  and  superstitious  respect  for  his 
brother's  fantasies.  He  began  to  watch 
the  boy  about,  and  surprising  him  one 
day  in  a  solitary  place  in  the  act  of  form* 

ing  patterns  on  the  turf  with  stones,  note*' 
4 


50  A  LITTLE  WIZARD. 

•with  a  feeling  of  dread  that  these  took  the 
shape  of  a  circle  and  a  triangle,  with 
other  cabalistic  figures  as  odd  as  they 
were  unfamiliar.  He  would  not  at  an- 
other time  have  given  such  a  trifle  a  sec- 
ond thought.  But  we  see  things  through 
the  glasses  of  our  own  prepossessions. 
The  morose  and  rugged  fanatic,  who  feared 
no  odds,  and  whom  no  persecution  could 
bend,  looked  askance  at  the  child  playing 
unconsciously  before  him,  looked  dubiously 
at  the  grey  moor  strewn  with  monoliths, 
and  finally  with  a  shiver  turned  and 
walked  homewards. 


A  LITTLE  WIZARD.  61 

CHAPTER  IIL 

LANQDALE'S  HORSE. 

IT  was  well  he  did  so,  for  the  fiery  cross 
had  chosen  that  moment  to  arrive  ;  Simon 
found  his  household  waiting  for  him  at  the 
foldgate,  and  with  them  a  red-faced  man  from 
Settle,  who  had  ridden  across  the  fells  with 
the  news  that  Langdale's  people  were  har- 
rying the  place.  Before  the  messenger  had 
had  time  to  come  to  details,  the  Puritan  was 
himself  again.  The  light  of  battle 
gleamed  in  his  sober  ej^es,  his  face  grew 
hard  as  his  native  rock.  Knowing  that 
he  was  looked  for  with  anxiety,  and  that 
at  the  rendezvous  few  would  be  more  wel- 
come, he  lost  not  a  moment,  but  quickly, 
yet  without  hurry,  fetched  his  pike  and 
coat,  girt  on  his  pistols,  and  filled  his  ban- 
doliers. Luke,  who  had  had  some  minutes 


62  A  LITTLE  WIZARD. 

the  start  of  him,  and  whose  eyes  burned 
with  a  sombre  enthusiasm,  showed  himself 
equally  forward.  When  the  two  stood 
ready  at  the  gate,  then,  and  then  only, 
they  discovered  that  the  third  brother  had 
no  intention  of  accompanying  them.  He 
stood  back  on  the  inner  side  of  the  wall 
with  a  frown  on  his  pale  face,  his  attitude 
a  curious  mixture  of  shrinking  and  resolu- 
tion. 

"  Come,  man,  be  quick  I  "  Simon  cried 
sharply.  "  What  are  you  waiting  for  ?  " 

"  I'm  not  coming,  Simon,"  was  the  reply. 

"  Not  coming  ?  " 

"  Some  one  must  stay  and  take  care  of 
the  place,"  the  butler  answered,  wiping 
his  forehead.  "  I'll  stay.  Your  wife  will 
need  some  one." 

"  Fool  1  what  can  one  man  do  here  ?  " 
the  Puritan  retorted  fiercely.  "  Come,  I 
Bay.  This  is  no  time  for  loitering  when 
the  work  calls  us." 


A  LITTLE  WIZAED.  53 

Gridley  shook  his  head  and  moistened 
his  lips  with  his  tongue.  "  I'm  not  a 
fighting  man,"  he  muttered  feebly. 

For  a  moment  the  elder  brother  glared 
at  him,  as  though  he  were  minded  to  cross 
the  fence  and  strike  him  down.  For- 
tunately, however,  Simon  found  a  vent  for 
his  passion  as  effectual  and  more  character, 
istic.  "  If  you  do  not  fight,  you  do  not 
eat,"  he  said  coldly.  "  At  any  rate  in  my 
house.  Mistress,"  he  continued  to  his 
wife,  "  see  that  my  orders  are  obeyed. 
Give  that  craven  neither  bit  nor  sup  until 
I  come  again.  If  he  will  not  fight  he 
shall  not  feed ! " 

And  with  that  he  went. 

When  little  Jack  came  back  to  the  nouse 
an  hour  later,  and  crept  shyly  into  the 
kitchen,  as  his  manner  was,  he  found  it 
empty.  The  light  was  beginning  to  wane, 
and  the  coming  evening  already  filled  the 
corners  of  the  gaunt,  silent  room,  in  which 


64  A  LITTLE  WIZARD. 

not  even  a  clock  ticked,  with  shadows. 
The  boy  stood  awhile,  looking  about  him 
and  listening  in  the  stillness  for  any 
movement  in  the  inner  room,  or  on  the 
floor  above.  Hearing  none,  he  went  out- 
side in  a  kind  of  panic  ;  but  there  too  he 
found  no  one.  Still,  the  light  gave  him 
courage  to  re-enter  and  mount  the  stairs. 
He  called  "  Gridley  1 "  again  and  again, 
but  no  one  answered.  He  tried  Luke's 
room ;  it  was  empt}7".  On  this  the  lad  was 
about  to  fly  again  in  a  worse  panic  than 
before — for  the  loneliness  of  the  house 
might  have  appalled  an  older  heart  than 
his — when  the  sound  of  footsteps  relieved 
his  fears.  He  stole  to  the  window,  and 
saw  the  butler  and  Mistress  Gridley  come 
round  the  corner  of  the  house,  the  former 
carrying  a  spade  on  his  shoulder. 

Jack  wondered  timidly  what  they  had 
been  about  with  the  spade,  and  where 
Simon  and  Luke  were ;  but  naturally  he 


A  LITTLE  WIZARD.  55 

got  no  explanation,  and  was  glad  to  escape 
from  the  grim  looks  with  which  they 
greeted  him.  It  was  time  for  the  evening 
meal,  and  the  woman  set  it  on,  and  gave 
him  his  share  as  usual.  The  butler,  how- 
ever, he  saw  with  surprise  took  no  part  in 
it,  but  sat  at  a  distance  with  a  scowl  on  hia 
face,  and  neither  ate  nor  drank.  On  the 
other  hand,  Mistress  Gridley  ate  more 
than  usual.  Indeed,  he  had  never  seen  her 
in  better  appetite  or  spirits.  She  rallied 
her  companion,  too,  on  his  abstinence  so 
pleasantly  and  with  so  much  good-temper, 
that  the  child  was  quite  carried  away  by 
her  humor,  and  went  to  bed  in  better 
spirits  than  had  been  his  since  the  begin- 
ning of  his  life  at  Malham. 

In  the  morning  it  was  the  same,  with 
the  exception  that  Gridley  looked  strangely 
pale  about  the  cheeks.  Again  he  took  no 
share  of  the  meal,  but  in  the  middle  of 
breakfast  he  came  up  to  the  table  in  an 


56  A  LITTLE  WIZARD. 

odd,  violent  fashion,  falling  back  only 
when  Mistress  Gridley  snatched  up  a 
knife,  and  made  a  playful  thrust  at  him. 
She  laughed  at  the  same  time,  but  the 
laugh  was  not  musical,  and  the  child,  de- 
tecting a  false  note  in  it,  grew  puzzled. 
Even  for  him  the  scene  had  lost  its  humor. 
The  man's  face,  as  he  retired  cowed  and 
baffled  to  the  window-seat,  where  the  side 
light  brought  out  all  that  was  most  repul- 
sive in  his  craven  features,  told  a  tale 
there  was  no  mistaking.  The  child  stayed 
awhile,  fescinated  by  the  spectacle,  and 
saw  the  woman  take  her  seat  on  the  meal 
chest  and  spin,  smiling  and  patient,  while 
Gridley  gnawed  his  nails  and  devoured  her 
with  his  eyes.  But  the  longer  he  watched 
the  more  frightened  he  grew  ;  and  at  last 
he  broke  the  spell  with  an  effort,  and  fled 
to  the  purer  air  outside. 

He  was  wise,  for  the  morn  was  at  its 
best.    It  was  the  most  perfect  morning  of 


A  LITTLE  WIZARD.  57 

the  year.  Ingleborough  had  no  cap  on, 
Penighent  stood  up  hard  and  sharp  against 
the  blue  sky.  The  summer  sunshine,  un- 
relieved by  a  single  cloud  or  so  much  as 
a  wreath  of  mist,  fell  hotly  on  the  open 
moor,  where  the  larks  sank  and  the  bees 
hummed,  and  the  boy's  heart  rose  in 
sympathy  with  the  life  about  him.  Feel- 
ing an  unwonted  lightness  and  cheerful- 
ness, he  started  to  climb  the  fell  at  the 
back  of  the  house,  following  the  right  bank 
of  the  hollow  in  which  the  yew-trees  grew. 
This  hollow,  as  it  rose  to  a  level  with  the 
upper  moor,  spent  itself  in  a  dozen  fissures, 
which,  radiating  in  every  direction, 
drained  the  moss.  Some  were  three  or 
four  feet  deep,  some  ten  or  twelve,  with 
steep  and  everhanging  edges. 

Presently  the  boy  found  his  progress 
barred  by  one  of  these,  and  peeping  into 
its  shadowy  depths,  which  a  little  to  hia 
left  melted  into  the  gloom  of  the  yew-trees, 


58  A   LITTLE  WIZARD. 

grew  timid  and  stopped,  sitting  down  and 
looking  back  the  way  he  had  come,  to  gain 
courage.  For  a  while  his  eyes  dwelt  idly 
on  the  sunny  slope.  Then  on  a  sudden  he 
saw  a  sight  which  he  remembered  all  his 
life. 

A  quarter  of  a  mile  below  the  house,  a 
road  crossed  the  moor.  On  this  a  solitary 
horseman  had  just  appeared,  urging  a  pie- 
bald horse  to  a  tired  trot,  while  continually 
looking  back  the  way  he  had  come.  The 
boy  had  scarcely  remarked  him  and  the 
strange  color  of  his  steed,  when  a  second 
rider  came  into  sight  over  the  brow,  with 
a  man  running  by  his  side  and  clinging  to 
his  stirrup-leather.  To  him  succeeded 
two  more  horsemen,  trotting  abreast  and 
spurring  furiously ;  and  then  while  the  lad 
wondered  what  it  all  meant,  and  who  these 
people  were,  a  single  footman  topped  the 
brow,  and  after  running  a  score  of  paces — . 
but  not  in  the  direction  the  others  had 


A  LITTLE  WIZARD.  58 

taken — flung  himself  down  on  his    face 
among  the  bracken. 

He  had  scarcely  executed  this  manoeu- 
vre,  when  a  party  of  six  men,  three 
mounted — the  boy  could  see  them  rising 
and  falling  briskly  in  their  stirrups — and 
three  running  beside  them,  appeared  above 
the  ridge,  and  quickening  their  pace  fol- 
lowed with  a  loud  cry  on  the  others'  heels. 
The  cry  seemed  to  spur  on  the  fugitives— 
such  he  now  saw  the  first  party  to  be — to 
fresh  exertions,  but  despite  this,  the  two 
horsemen  who  brought  up  the  rear  were 
quickly  overtaken  by  the  six.  The  lad 
saw  a  tiny  flash  and  heard  a  faint  report. 
One  of  the  two  threw  up  his  arms  and  fell 
backwards.  The  other  made  as  if  he  would 
have  turned  his  horse  to  meet  his  pursuers ; 
but  it  shied  and  carried  him  across  the 
moor.  Two  of  the  six  rode  after  him,  one 
on  either  side,  and  the  lad  saw  the  flash  of 
their  blades  in  the  sunshine  as  they  rained 


60  A  LITTLE  WIZARD. 

cuts  on  his  head  and  shoulders — which  the 
poor  wretch  vainly  strove  to  shield  by 
raising  his  arms — till  he  too  sank  down, 
and  the  two  turned  back  to  their  comrades, 
who  were  still  following  after  the  three 
who  survived. 

The  boy,  sick  and  shuddering,  and  ut- 
terly unmanned  by  the  sight  he  had  seen, 
hid  his  eyes ;  and  for  a  time  saw  no  more. 
His  very  heart  melted  within  him  for 
terror  and  for  pity.  Sweating  all  over,  he 
rolled  himself  into  a  little  hollow  beside 
him  where  the  ground  sank,  and  lay  there 
trembling.  By-and-by  he  heard  a  scream, 
and  then  another,  and  each  time  he  drew 
in  his  breath  and  closed  his  eyes.  Then 
silence  fell  again  upon  the  moor.  The 
bees  hummed  round  him.  A  peewit 
screamed  and  wheeled  above  his  head. 

He  plucked  up  heart  after  a  while  to 
peep  fearfully  over  the  edge  of  the  little 
basin  in  which  he  lay,  and  saw  that  the 


A  LITTLE  ftlZA&D.  61 

six  men  were  retracing  their  steps,  but 
not,  as  they  had  gone,  in  a  body.  They 
were  now  beating  the  moor  backwards  in  a 
long  line,  each  man  a  score  of  paces  from 
his  neighbor.  The  lad,  after  watching 
them  a  moment,  had  wit  enough  to  under- 
stand what  they  were  doing,  and  from  his 
elevated  position  could  see  also  their 
quarry,  who  had  lost  no  time  in  removing 
himself  from  the  spot  where  he  had  first 
thrown  himself  down  in  the  fern.  He  was 
half  way  up  the  fell  now,  on  a  level  with 
the  farm,  and  a  hundred  paces  above  the 
uppermost  of  his  enemies.  Apparently  he 
was  satisfied  with  his  position,  or  despaired 
of  bettering  it,  for  he  lay  still,  though  the 
searchers  drew  each  moment  nearer. 

Jack  could  see  their  flushed  cheeks  and 
streaming  brows  as  they  toiled  along  in  the 
sunshine,  probing  the  fern  with  pikes  and 
going  sometimes  many  yards  out  of  the 
way  to  inspect  a  likely  bush.  He  felt  bis 


62  A  LITTLE  WIZARD. 

heart  stand  still  when  they  halted  opposite 
the  man's  lair  and  seemed  to  suspect  some- 
thing ;  and  again  he  felt  it  race  on  as  if  it 
would  choke  him,  when  they  passed  by  un- 
noticing,  and  began  to  quarter  the  ground 
towards  the  farm. 

Their  backs  were  scarcely  turned  before 
the  man,  whose  conduct  from  the  first  had 
proved  him  a  hardy  and  resolute  fellow, 
moved  again,  and  crawling  stealthily  on 
his  stomach,  as  the  ground  afforded  him 
shelter,  began  to  make  his  way  up  the  hill. 
The  lad,  lying  still  and  fascinated,  watched 
him;  forseeing  that  the  fugitive's  course 
must  bring  him,  if  pursued,  to  the  hollow 
in  which  he  lay,  yet  unable  to  move  or 
escape.  It  seemed  an  age  before  the  man 
reached  the  mound,  and  wriggling  himself 
up  its  least  exposed  side,  pushed  his  head 
cautiously  over  the  rim,  and  met  the  boy's 
eyes. 

Both    started    violently ;  but  whereas 


A  LITTLE  WIZARD.  63 

Jack  saw  before  him  only  a  swollen,  blood- 
stained face,  white  and  haggard  with 
fatigue,  and  half  disguised  by  a  kerchief 
which  covered  the  man's  brow  and  came 
down  to  his  eyes,  the  man  saw  more- 
much  more. 

"  Jack  1 "  he  muttered,  the  instinct  of 
caution  remaining  with  him  even  in  his 
great  astonishment.  "  Jack  I  Why,  don't 
you  know  me,  lad  ?  It  is  I,  Frank." 

"  Frank  ?  " 

"  Ay,  Frank  I    You  know  me  now." 

The  boy  did  know  him  then,  more  by  his 
voice  than  his  face  ;  and  broke  into  a  pas- 
sion of  weeping,  holding  out  his  hands  and 
murmuring  incoherent  words.  The  fugi- 
tive whom  chance  had  brought  to  his  feet 
was  his  brother !  the  brother  whom  he  had 
not  seen  for  more  than  a  year,  of  whose 
misfortunes  and  misdeeds  he  had  dimly 
heard,  the  brother  whom  he  had  mourned 
as  dead ! 


64  A  LITTLE  WIZARD. 

Twelve  months  of  hardship  and  danger 
and  rough  companionship  had  changed 
Frank  Patten  much,  inwardly  as  well  as 
outwardly ;  but  they  had  not  sapped  the 
the  family  tie  nor  closed  his  heart  against 
such  a  meeting  as  this.  He  crept  into  the 
hollow  beside  the  child  with  every  nobler 
feeling  in  his  nature  aroused,  and  with  one 
eye  on  the  moor  below  and  one  on  him 
strove  to  comfort  him. 

Courage  is  contagious.  The  elder 
brother  possessed  it  in  a  peculiar  degree, 
uniting  the  daring  of  youth  to  the  hardi- 
hood and  resource  -which  as  a  rule  come 
only  of  long  experience ;  and  Jack  was  not 
slow  to  feel  his  influence.  The  boy  quickly 
stilled  his  sobs  and  dried  his  tears.  In 
such  crises  resolutions  are  formed  rapidly  > 
the  impulse  to  help  is  instinctive.  In  a 
few  moments  he  was  back  in  the  old  place, 
watching  the  moor ;  while  Frank,  whose 
bandaged  head  was  so  much  more  likely  to 


A  LITTLE  WIZARD.  65 

catch  the  eye  and  attract  attention,  lay 
resting  in  the  lap  o::  the  hollow. 

"  Do  you  see  them  now  ?  "  Frank  asked 
presently,  when  he  had  somewhat  recovered 
his  breath  and  strength. 

"  They  are  standing  in  front  of  the  farm," 
Jack  answered.  "  Now  they  are  beating 
the  ground  towards  the  further  brow." 

Frank  nodded.  "  They  think  I  must 
have  doubled  back,"  he  said  coolly.  "  It 
was  a  narrow  squeak,  but  I  am  all  right  as 
it  is,  if  I  can  get  three  things." 

"  What  are  they,  Frank  ?  "  Jack  asked 
timidly,  gazing  with  awe  and  admiration 
at  the  ragged,  blood-stained,  sinewy  figure 
beside  him. 

"  Water,  food,  and  a  hiding-place,"  hia 
brother  answered  tersely ;  "  but  first, 
water.  The  sun  has  burned  me  to  a  cinder, 
and  I  am  parched  with  thirst.  I  little 
thought  when  I  rode  gaily  into  Settle  yea- 
5 


66  A  LITTLE  WIZARD. 

ter-even  that  this  would  come  of  it.  But 
the  game  is  not  fought  out  yet." 

"  Have  they  not  beaten  you  ? "  Jack 
ventured  to  ask. 

"  Not  a  bit  of  it  1  "  his  brother  answered 
with  a  reckless  laugh.  "  'Twas  only  an 
affair  of  outposts,  lad.  In  a  week,  Duke 
Hamilton  will  be  at  Preston  with  thirty 
thousand  gallant  fellows  at  his  back. 
It  will  not  be  a  handful  of  disbanded 
troopers  will  scatter  it.  But  I  thirst, 
Tack,  I  thirst." 

Jack  slid  back  into  the  hollow  and  sprang 
to  his  feet.  "  There  is  a  spring  at  the 
back  of  the  house,"  he  said  eagerly.  "  I 
can  go  to  it  through  the  yew-trees,  Frank, 
and  be  back  in  five  minutes,  or  ten  at 
most.  But  I  have  nothing  to  carry  the 
water  in,  and  the  pitcher  is  kept  in  the 
house." 

In  a  trice  Frank  pulled  off  one  of  his 
long  boots.  "  Take  that,"  he  said.  "  It  is 


A  LITTLE  WIZARD.  67 

as  nearly  water-tight  as  awl  and  needle  and 
good  leather  can  make  it.  Many  a  man 
has  used  a  worse  blackjack.  But  can  you 
go  and  return  unseen,  lad  ?  " 

"  Trust  me,"  said  Jack,  bravely,  taking 
up  the  boot.  "  You  shall  see." 

He  had  just  bethought  him  of  the  fissure 
in  the  moss  which  had  set  a  limit  to  his 
explorations.  It  ran  athwart  the  slope  a 
few  paces  behind  the  hollow  in  which  he 
lay,  and  seemed  to  promise  safe  and  secret 
access  through  the  yew  coppice  to  the  rear 
of  the  house  where  the  well  was.  Nod- 
ding confidently  to  his  brother,  he  crawled 
back  to  the  rift ;  then  dropping  into  it 
where  it  grew  shallow,  a  little  to  the  right, 
he  turned  down  it  and  followed  it  until  it 
presently  opened  into  the  dell  in  which  the 
yew-trees  grew.  Their  cool  shadow  no 
longer  terrified  him,  for  he  was  thinking 
of  another,  and  had  a  purpose  ;  two  things 
which  form  the  best  of  armor  against 


68  A  LITTLE  WIZARD. 

empty  fears.  Carrying  the  boot  with 
caution,  so  that  it  might  not  be  seen  easily 
or  at  once  were  he  surprised,  he  plunged 
into  the  gloom  under  the  trees,  and  creep- 
ing along,  presently  reached  the  spring, 
which  lay  a  few  paces  only  from  the  back 
of  the  house. 

It  was  clear  of  the  trees,  and  here  he  had 
to  venture  something.  He  waited  and 
listened,  and  presently  heard  Mistress 
Gridley's  voice.  She  was  on  the  farther 
side  of  the  house  talking  to  some  of  the 
Puritan  troopers,  who  had  dismounted  at 
the  wall  of  the  fold,  and  were  discussing 
their  victory.  Taking  his  courage  in  his 
hand  the  boy  advanced  to  the  spring,  and 
dipping  the  boot,  staggered  back  with  it 
into  the  shelter  of  the  trees,  where  he  lay  a 
moment  under  cover  to  assure  himself  that 
he  had  not  been  observed.  Quickly  satis- 
fied on  this  point,  and  the  more  quickly  as 
he  discovered  that  the  boot  leaked  a  little, 


A  LITTLE  WIZARD.  69 

he  lost  no  more  time,  but  hastening  back 
the  way  he  had  come,  in  three  or  four 
minutes  reached  the  surface  of  the  moor, 
and  had  the  satisfaction  of  seeing  his 
brother  plunge  his  burning  face  into  the 
boot  and  quench  his  thirst  with  water  of 
his  providing. 

Never  had  the  boy  known  so  proud  a 
moment.  It  was  an  epoch  in  his  life.  He 
was  athirst  himself,  his  lips  were  parched 
and  his  mouth  was  burning,  but  he  would 
have  suffered  a  hundred  times  as  much  be- 
fore he  would  have  taken  a  drop.  He 
looked  on,  glowing  with  happiness :  fear 
and  weakness,  heat  and  thirst  all  for- 
gotten. For  he  had  done  a  man's  deed. 


70  A  LITTLE  WIZAED. 

CHAPTER  IT. 

THE   MEAL   CHEST. 

IT  was  high  noon,  and  the  sun  shone 
hotly  on  the  hillside  where  the  two  lay. 
The  rim  of  the  hollow  which  sheltered  them 
from  hostile  eyes  kept  off  also  such  light 
breezes  as  were  blowing,  and  served  to  col- 
lect and  focus  the  burning  rays.  Jack 
panted  and  fanned  himself,  longing  for 
shade  and  water,  and  cool  sounds.  But  no 
thought  of  deserting  his  brother  occurred 
to  his  mind.  When  Frank  looked  up  at 
last,  after  drinking  three  long  draughts 
from  his  queer  blackjack,  he  found  the  lad 
had  gone  bravely  back  to  his  post  of  es- 
pial, and  was  searching  the  moor  with  dili- 
gent eyes. 

Wonder  and  astonishment  stirred  afresh 
in  the  hunted  man's  breast.  "  Why,  Jack, 


A  LITTLE  WIZARD.  71 

lad,"  he  said,  gazing  at  him  as  if  he  now 
for  the  first  time  comprehended  the  full 
strangeness  of  his  presence ;  "  how  come 
you  to  be  here  ?  I  thought  you  were  safe 
at  Pattenhall,  thirty  miles  off." 

"  Gridley  brought  me,"  Jack  answered, 
lowering  his  voice  cautiously. 

"  Old  Gridley !  He  did,  did  he !  He  is 
a  rogue  if  ever  there  was  one.  But  why 
did  he  bring  you  ?  And  why  here  ?  " 

Jack  explained,  as  far  as  his  knowledge 
went ;  which  was  not  far.  Frank's  worldly 
wisdom,  gained  in  a  hard  school,  helped 
him  to  the  rest. 

"  I  see,"  he  replied,  nodding  darkly. 
"  The  old  schemer  had  his  own  reasons  for 
a  sudden  flitting.  And  he  thought  it  a  fine 
stroke  to  get  possession  of  you,  in  case  our 
cause  and  his  Majesty's  should  come  up- 
permost again — as,  please  Heaven,  it  will 
now.  But  you  had  better  have  stopped  at 
Pattenhall,  Jack,"  Frank  continued 


72  A  LITTLE  WIZARD. 

gravely.  "  Those  crop-eared  knaves  must 
have  done  something  for  you.  They  don't 
fight  with  children,  to  do  them  justice." 

"  Still,  I  am  glad  I  came,  Frank,"  Jack 
said  softly. 

"  So  am  I,  lad,"  his  brother  answered. 
"  That  water  and  you  saved  my  life.  I 
could  not  have  held  out  till  night,  and  I 
should  not  have'  known  where  to  turn  for 
it  myself.  But  we  are  being  scorched  here, 
and  the  buzzing  of  the  bees  goes  through 
my  head.  You  said  something  of  a  yew 
wood  ?  It  sounds  better.  Could  I  crawl 
there  without  being  seen,  think  3*ou  ?  " 

Jack  told  him,  sliding  down  eagerty,  how 
he  had  come  and  gone,  and  described  the 
position  of  the  fissure  in  the  moss. 

"  The  very  thing  I "  the  fugitive  cried, 
his  face  lighting  up.  "  I  know  the  kind 
of  thing.  There  are  no  better  hiding, 
places.  They  turn  and  twist  and  throw 
off  a  dozen  branches.  And  the  nearer  the 


A  LITTLE  WIZARD.  73 

house,  if  these  Gridleys  are  Parliament 
men,  the  better.  They  will  not  be  sus- 
pected of  hiding  malignants.  Is  the  coast 
clear  ? " 

Jack  answered  in  the  affirmative,  and 
eagerly  led  the  way,  his  brother  crawling 
after  him,  through  bracken  and  under 
gorse-bushes,  and  over  hot  patches  of  turf 
where  the  sun  grilled  them,  until  the  edge 
of  the  rift  was  safely  gained.  Here  Frank 
fell  over  at  once  into  the  cool  depth,  and 
then  standing  up  helped  Jack  down.  The 
shade  and  the  feeling  of  moisture  which 
prevailed  in  this  under-world  were  so  wel- 
come that  for  a  moment  the  two  stood  lean- 
ing against  the  dark  wall,  the  overhanging 
edge  of  peat  effectually  protecting  them 
from  the  sun's  rays.  The  chasm  at  this 
point  was  about  eight  feet  deep  and  six 
wide;  the  bottom  of  a  dull  white  color, 
with  water  percolating  over  it.  Away  to 
the  right  it  grew  more  shallow,  and  aftey 


74  A  LITTLE  WIZARD. 

throwing  out  numerous  channels,  rose  at 
last  to  the  level  of  the  moor  it  drained. 
To  the  left  it  grew  deeper,  attaining  a 
jlepth  of  twelve  or  fourteen  feet  where  it 
opened  on  the  ravine  behind  the  house. 

"  Good  1 "  Frank  said,  looking  round 
him  with  sombre  satisfaction.  "  I  can  find 
ft  dozen  hiding-places  here,  and  lie  as  snug 
and  cool  in  the  meantime  as  a  nymph  in  a 
grot.  The  rogues  are  lazy,  or  they  would 
have  climbed  the  brow  an  hour  ago.  They 
will  not  do  so  now.  One  thing  only  re- 
mains, and  that  is  the  question  of  food." 

"  I  will  fetch  some !  "  Jack  cried  impetu- 
ously. 

"  Yes,  but  softly,"  his  brother  answered, 
Jay  ing  his  hand  on  his  arm,  and  restrain- 
ing him.  "  It  is  past  dinner-time,  and  you 
will  have  been  missed,  my  lad.  There  will 
be  strange  eyes  in  the  house,  and  you  will 
not  find  it  so  easy  to  slip  away  again  un- 
noticed. Whatever  you  do,  bide  ^on.r  tj 


A  LITTLE  WIZARD.  75 

I  shall  not  starve  for  a  bit ;  but  if  I  am 
taken — and  a  careless  word  or  a  hasty  step 
may  bring  these  gentry  upon  us — they 
may  give  me  quarter ;  and  little  gain  to 
me  I — a  drum-head  court-martial  for  breach 
of  parole  will  do  the  rest." 

His  face  grew  hard,  and  instead  of  meet- 
ing the  boy's  eyes  he  looked  downward  and 
moodily  kicked  a  lump  of  peat  with  his 
foot.  Jack  longed  to  ask  the  meaning  of 
that  phrase  "  breach  of  parole  "  which  he 
had  heard  so  often  of  late  in  connection 
with  his  brother's  name.  He  did  not  dare 
to  put  the  question,  but  his  patience  was 
presently  rewarded,  for  Frank  began  to 
speak  again,  not  to  him,  but  to  himself. 

"  A  promise ! "  he  muttered,  his  face 
still  dark.  "  A  promise  under  compulsion 
is  no  promise.  If  I  promised  not  to  bear 
arms  for  the  king  again,  it  was  a  promise 
made  to  rebels,  and  against  my  duty  and 
theirs,  and  was  null  and  void  from  the  be- 


76  A  LITTLE  WIZAED. 

ginning  1  Who  shall  say  it  was  not,  or 
that  my  honor  was  concerned  in  it  ?  Still, 
these  Roundheads,  if  they  catch  me,  will 
fling  it  in  my  face !  And  Duke  Hamilton 
looked  coldly  on  me.  I  would,  after  all," 
he  added,  in  a  voice  still  louder, "  that  I 
had  not  taken  Goring's  advice." 

What  Goring  had  advised  was  so  clear, 
though  Frank  said  no  more,  that  Jack 
looked  at  his  brother  with  his  eyes  full  of 
sympathy.  He  saw,  with  the  astonishing 
clearness  which  children  possess,  that 
Frank's  conscience  was  ill  at  ease — so  ill 
at  ease  that  the  mere  thought  of  his  broken 
parole,  now  it  was  too  late  to  undo  the 
wrong,  brought  all  that  was  hard,  and 
fierce,  and  desperate  in  his  nature  to  the 
surface,  mingling  a  kind  of  ferocity  with 
his  native  courage,  and  converting  hardi- 
hood into  recklessness.  Comprehending 
this,  the  lad  gazed  at  him  with  a  face  full 
of  timid  sympathy ;  until  Frank,  awaken.- 


A  LITTLE  WIZARD.  77 

ing  from  his  absent  fit,  glanced  suddenly 
up  and  met  his  look. 

"  What !  have  you  not  gone  ?  "  he  said 
roughly,  and  with  a  reddening  cheek. 
"  You  do  not  help  me  by  staring  at  me 
like  a  dead  pig !  If  you  can  get  food,  no 
matter  what  it  is,  don't  bring  it  here.  You 
may  be  followed.  Lay  it  down  at  the 
opening  of  this  rat-run,  where  you  enter  it 
from  the  house.  I  shall  find  it  when  the 
coast  is  clear." 

His  manner  was  changed,  and  Jack 
would  have  been  more  than  mortal  if  he 
had  not  felt  the  change.  It  hurt  and  dis- 
appointed him  sorely  ;  coming  just  when 
he  had  done  all  he  could.  But  he  hid  his 
chagrin,  and,  turning  obediently  away,  set 
off  without  a  word  down  the  rift,  and 
thence  through  the  wood  of  yews,  where 
the  sheltering  gloom  was  now  as  welcome 
to  him  as  it  had  been  before  alarming.  As 
he  approached  the  house,  however,  and  the 


78  A  LITTLE  WIZARD. 

immediate  necessity  of  facing  Mistress 
Gridley  and  the  brothers  with  an  unmoved 
countenance  forced  itself  upon  him,  he 
paused  involuntarily,  trembling  under  the 
sense  of  sudden  fear  which  beset  him.  The 
horrible  events  of  the  morning,  the  cries 
of  the  men  whom  he  had  seen  cut  down  on 
the  moor,  his  brother's  danger,  and  the 
consequences  of  a  hapless  word,  all  rushed 
into  his  mind  together,  and  for  the  mo- 
ment, if  the  word  may  be  used  of  so  young 
a  child,  unmanned  him.  Clutching  the 
trunk  of  the  last  tree  he  had  to  pass,  he 
leaned  against  it  in  a  very  ague  of  terror ; 
afraid  to  go  forward,  shaking  at  the  very 
thought  of  going  forward  and  facing  those 
unfriendly  eyes,  jet  knowing  that  if  he 
would  save  his  brother,  if  he  would  not 
shame  his  blood  and  breeding,  he  must  go 
forward. 

While  he  stood  in  this  agony — for  it  was 
nothing    less — butler     Gridley,    loitering 


He  leaned  against  it  in  a  very  ague  of  terror.^-Page  ?8. 


A  LITTLE  WIZARD.  79 

about  the  back-door  with  thoughts  and  for 
a  purpose  of  his  own,  espied  him ;  and 
with  a  stealthy  foot  and  a  glance  in  the 
direction  of  the  house,  made  towards  him. 
The  least  observant  eye  must  have  de- 
tected the  boy's  terror,  or  seen  at  least 
that  he  was  laboring  under  some  strange 
emotion.  But  Gridley's  eyes  were  not  ob- 
servant at  all ;  they  were  only  hungry.  He 
had  fasted  against  his  will  for  twenty-four 
hours,  and  his  plump  cheeks  were  pallid. 
He  had  a  wolf  within  him  that  demanded 
all  his  attention.  He  saw  in  the  boy  only 
a  means  of  satisfying  his  craving. 

"  Jack  1 "  he  whispered,  with  his  lips  al- 
most at  the  boy's  ear  and  his  eyes  devour- 
ing his  face,  "  I  have  always  been  good  to 
you.  I  want  you  to  do  something.  It  is 
a  little  thing,"  he  repeated  feverishly.  "  It 
is  a  nothing.  Just " 

He  had  got  so  far — and  alas  I  for  him, 
no  farther — when  a  harsh,  discordant  laugh 


80  A  LITTLE  WIZARD. 

behind  him  caused  him  to  straighten  him. 
self  as  if  an  unseen  hand  had  propelled 
him.  "  Let  the  child  alone  !  "  Mistress 
Gridley  cried  from  the  door ;  "  do  you  hear 
me  ?  I  will  have  no  plotting  and  collogu- 
ing in  my  house!  And  do  you,  Jack, 
come  here  1 " 

There  was  a  world  of  sarcasm  in  the 
woman's  gibing  tone  ;  and  it  cut  the  butler 
like  a  knife.  He  crept  away  with  a  sav- 
age glare  in  his  eyes.  The  boy  went 
slowly  to  the  door  with  thoughts  happity 
diverted  from  the  weighty  issues  which  had 
a  moment  before  overburdened  him.  The 
incident  was,  indeed,  his  salvation  ;  for, 
though  the  woman  could  not  fail  to  remark 
his  embarrassment,  she  naturally  set  it 
down  to  the  wrong  cause,  supposing  merely 
that  the  butler  had  been  trying  to  corrupt 
him. 

"  Where  have  you  been  all  day  ?  "  she 
cried  roughly,  hustling  him  into  the  house 


A  LITTLE  WIZARD.  81 

—so  violently  that  he  stumbled  on  the 
threshold.  "  You  don't  deserve  your  food 
either,"  she  continued,  shaking  him  fiercely, 
"  playing  truant  all  day !  But  you  shall 
have  it,  if  only  to  tantalize  that  craven 
fool  yonder.  Where  have  you  been,  eh  ? 
You  will  stop  at  home  in  future,  do  you 
hear?  This  is  your  place — inside  these 
four  walls — until  this  business  is  over. 
You  remember  that,  my  lad,  or  it  will  be 
the  worse  for  you !  " 

Simon  Gridley  and  two  men,  whom  the 
boy  did  not  know,  were  in  the  kitchen,  sit- 
ting dour  and  silent  over  the  remains  of  a 
meal.  They  looked  up  on  the  boy's  en- 
trance, but  took  no  further  notice  of  him. 
The  woman  set  food  before  him,  scolding 
all  the  while,  and  then  went  off  to  her  work 
in  the  back  premises.  The  boy  had  little 
heart  to  eat ;  but  presently  he  found  oc- 
casion while  Simon  was  talking  to  the  two 

strangers  (who  were  brothers,  of  the  name 
6 


62  A  LITTLE  WIZARD. 

of  Edgington,  ex-troopers  and  weavers  of 
Bradford)  to  secrete  part  of  his  meal  inside 
Ms  jacket.  Mistress  Gridley,  when  she 
came  back,  looked  sharply  at  what  he  had 
left ;  but  the  boy  had  eaten  so  little  that 
her  suspicions  were  not  aroused,  and  she 
flounced  away  with  the  platter,  bidding 
him  remain  indoors  and  sit  where  he  was. 
She  had  scarcely  gone  when  Luke  en- 
tered and  joined  the  party  by  the  window, 
and  there  ensued  much  solemn  jubilation 
over  the  morning's  work  and  the  peculiar 
judgments  vouchsafed  to  the  neighbor- 
hood ;  and  particularly  over  the  reported 
arrival  at  Ripon  of"  Lieutenant-General 
Cromwell,  with  forces  which  might  be 
trusted  to  give  a  good  account  of  the 
Scotch  army.  Jack,  sitting  trembling  on 
a  stool  in  a  corner  of  the  fireless  chimney- 
place,  heard  their  sanguine  predictions  and 
shuddered.  He  knew  Cromwell  by  name, 
and  dimly  associated  him  with  Marston 


A  LITTLE  WIZARD.  83 

Moor,  and  the  sad  night  which  had  seen 
his  father  ride  home  to  die.  The  kitchen 
grew  to  the  lad's  eyes  as  he  listened  full 
of  dark  shadows  and  forebodings  of  fate. 
The  men  who  loomed  between  him  and  the 
window  seemed  to  increase  in  size.  Only 
the  purpose  he  had  in  his  mind,  and  the 
necessity  of  action  if  he  would  pursue  it, 
saved  him  from  breaking  down  and  burst- 
ing into  childish  weeping. 

By  dint  of  fixing  his  mind  on  this,  how- 
ever, he  steadied  himself;  and  by-and-by, 
choosing  a  moment  when  the  talk  was  loud, 
stole  across  the  room  to  a  tub  in  which  the 
oatcake  was  kept.  Ordinary  the  lid  lay 
loose  upon  it :  now,  to  his  huge  disappoint- 
ment, he  found  it  locked !  Baffled,  and 
more  than  half  inclined  to  cry,  he  wan- 
dered back  to  his  place  and  resumed  his 
seat  on  the  floor,  affecting  to  be  engaged 
in  playing  with  two  billets  of  wood.  In 
reality  his  thoughts  were  keenly  at  work. 


84  A  LITTLE  WIZARD. 

The  cheese  and  cake  he  had  secreted  were 
scarcely  worth  carrying  to  his  brother. 
Where  could  he  get  more? 

It  occurred  to  him  at  last  that,  failing 
everything  else,  raw  oatmeal  might  be  of 
use.  Inspired  by  the  thought,  he  rose  and 
sauntered  round  three  sides  of  the  room 
until  he  reached  the  chest.  Pretending  to 
play  about  it  he  presently  tried  the  lid, 
and  to  his  joy  found  it  unfastened.  He 
raised  it  cautiously  an  inch  or  two,  and 
thrusting  his  hand  in  found  the  wooden 
bowl  which  was  used  for  measuring  the 
meal.  He  filled  this,  and  withdrew  it  suc- 
cessfully. Then  he  let  the  lid  fall  without 
noise. 

He  had  still  to  escape  unseen  with  his 
plunder,  but  the  men  were  so  busily  en- 
gaged in  talk  that  he  feared  no  interrup- 
tion from  them,  and  Mistress  Gridley  was 
neither  to  be  heard  nor  seen.  He  moved  to- 
wards the  back  door,  opened  it,  and  slipped 


A  LITTLE  WIZARD.  85 

outside,  holding  the  bowl  under  the  skirt 
of  his  jacket.  The  afternoon  sun  shone  in 
his  eyes,  and  for  a  moment  he  stood  blink- 
ing like  an  owl  in  the  daylight,  so  great 
was  the  change  from  the  cool,  sombre 
kitchen.  Softly  he  advanced  a  step.  Be- 
fore he  could  take  another,  a  heavy  hand 
fell  on  his  shoulder,  and  Mistress  Gridley 
had  him  in  her  clutch. 

"  You  little  thief!  "  she  screamed,  her 
voice  shrill  with  savage  triumph,  "  I  have 
caught  you,  have  I  ?  You  thought  to  de- 
ceive me,  did  you  ?  To  deceive  me,  you 
little  ninny  ?  What  is  this,  eh  ?  Whose 
is  this  ? "  she  repeated,  grasping  the 
child's  wrist,  and  forcing  him  to  hold 
up  the  little  bowl  of  meal  which  his 
fingers  still  gripped  mechanically.  "  Whose 
is  this,  eh  ?  Is  it  yours  ?  This  way,  my 
little  thief;  this  way  1 " 

She  dragged  him  into  the  kitchen,  and 
exulting  in  her  own  sharpness,  told  the 


86  A   LITTLE  WIZARD. 

men,  who  had  risen  at  the  sound  of  her 
outcry,  how  she  had  caught  him.  "  He 
thought  himself  clever,"  she  continued, 
shaking  him  to  and  fro  without  mercy, 
"  but  he  was  not  clever  enough  for  me  I  " 

"  What  did  he  want  with  the  meal  ?  " 
one  of  the  strangers  asked  suspiciously 
"  It  looks  to  me  very  much  as  if " 

"  What  ? "  Mistress  Gridley  asked 
rudely. 

"  As  if  the  malignant  who  gave  us  the 
slip  this  morning  were  hid  here,  and  had 
employed  this  boy  to  get  him  food." 

The  woman  sniffed  contemptuously. 
"  Stuff  and  rubbish  I  "  she  said.  "  The 
meal  is  for  the  cowardly  sneak  who  brought 
the  boy  here.  He  is  outside,  on  short  com- 
mons," she  continued,  laughing  without 
mirth. 

"  I  met  him  going  down  to  Settle,"  Luke 
said  briefly. 

"  Ay,  but  the  child  did  not  know  he  was 


A  LITTLE  WIZARD.  87 

gone,"  she  answered  with  confidence. 
"  The  child  did  not  know  it,  do  you  see  ? 
But  I  will  make  him  know  enough  not  to 
steal  again,  the  little  thief!  " 

The  men  nodded  in  stern  approval. 
"  Open  me  that  closet  door,"  Mistress 
Gridley  continued,  pointing  with  her  un- 
occupied hand  to  a  cupboard  made  in  the 
thickness  of  the  wall  beside  the  chimney, 
and  used  in  winter  for  storing  wood.  "  I 
will  lock  him  up  there  for  the  present.  It 
is  nice  and  dark.  He  may  keep  the  oat- 
meal, and  when  he  has  finished  it,  but  not 
before,  we  will  see  about  finding  him  some 
other  food.  In  with  you  1 "  she  continued, 
dragging  the  boy  forcibly  to  the  place; 
"  the  beetles  will  keep  you  company  1 " 
and  pushing  him  in,  she  closed  the  door 
and  locked  it  upon  him. 

So  far  the  boy  had  neither  spoken  nor 
resisted.  But  finding  the  door  closed  on 
him  inexorably,  and  the  horrors  of  the 


88  A  LITTLE  WIZARD. 

black  closet  round  him — horrors  which  a 
child  alone  can  thoroughly  comprehend — • 
he  flung  himself,  shrieking  loudly,  against 
the  door.  He  beat  on  it  with  his  hands, 
he  kicked  it,  he  cried  frantically  to  be  let 
out.  The  woman  listened  and  laughed 
cruelly.  "  It  is  as  good  as  beating  him, 
and  less  labor,"  she  said.  "  Take  no  heed 
of  him,  and  he  will  soon  tire  of  shouting." 
The  men  laughed  too — the  boy  was  a 
thief — and  went  back  to  their  talk,  while 
the  woman  sat  down  to  her  wheel.  The 
child's  cries  were  music  to  her  ears ;  and 
yet  she  was  ill  at  ease.  The  butler  had 
gone  down  to  Settle,  had  he  ?  What  if  he 
had  visited  a  certain  place  among  the  yew- 
trees  before  going,  and  dug  a  little?  She 
did  not  think  he  would  have  had  the  cour- 
age to  pla}r  her  such  a  trick.  Still  it  was 
possible — it  was  possible,  and  she  longed 
for  night  that  she  might  go  to  the  place 
and  have  the  assurance  of  her  own  eyes. 


A  LITTLE  WIZARD.  89 

For  a  time  the  boy  raved  and  beat  the 
door,  hig  fear  increased  by  that  sense  of 
physical  oppression  which  children,  and 
many  who  are  not  children,  experience 
when  shut  up  in  a  confined  space  without 
the  power  of  freeing  themselves.  By-and- 
by,  however,  as  the  woman  had  predicted, 
he  grew  calmer.  He  had  a  talisman  which 
availed,  when  the  first  paroxysm  had  spent 
itself,  to  keep  selfish  terrors  at  a  distance ; 
and  that  was  the  thought  of  his  brother. 
In  proportion  as  his  sobs  grew  feebler  his 
brain  grew  clearer.  Anxiety  on  Frank's 
account  took  the  place  of  fear  for  himself. 
Crouching  beside  the  door  with  his  ear 
laid  against  it,  he  drew  such  comfort  from 
the  murmur  of  voices  and  the  thin  line  of 
light  which  marked  the  threshold,  that  he 
grew  almost  content  with  his  position. 
He  was  safe  from  further  punishment. 
Only  there  was  his  brother.  He  pictured 
Frank  waiting  and  looking  for  him,  wait- 


90  A   LITTLE  WIZARD. 

ing  and  looking  in  vain  for  the  food  which 
did  not  come  I  And  this  fancy  causing  his 
tears  to  flow  again,  in  the  middle  of  a 
stifled  sob  he  fell  asleep. 


A  LITTLE  WIZARD.  91 

CHAPTER  V. 

TREASURE   TROVE. 

WHEN  he  awoke  and  found  himself  in 
darkness,  he  could  not  for  a  time  under- 
stand where  he  was.  The  line  of  light 
which  had  comforted  him  was  gone,  and 
with  it  the  homely  sounds  of  kitchen  life. 
He  stretched  his  sore  limbs  in  the  dark- 
ness and  shivered,  looking  timidly  for  the 
outline  of  a  window.  Finding  none,  he 
put  out  his  hand  to  feel  for  his  bedfellow, 
and  lit  instead  on  the  rough  surface  of  the 
door,  against  which  he  had  sunk  down  in 
his  sleep  until  only  his  head  rested  upon  it. 

The  touch  recalled  everything  to  the 
boy's  mind.  With  a  low  whimper  of  alarm 
he  sat  up,  and  crouching  against  the  door, 
which  seemed  some  kind  of  company,  lis- 
tened, holding  his  breath.  All  was  still  in 


92  A  LITTLE  WIZARD. 

the  house,  and  he  presently  comprehended 
that  it  was  night  and  that  the  family  had 
gone  to  bed,  leaving  him  there. 

Use  and  sleep  had  rendered  him  in  a 
way  familiar  with  his  prison,  and  he  did 
not  on  making  this  discovery  break  into 
any  loud  wailing.  Instead,  he  huddled 
himself  with  a  moan  into  as  small  a  space 
as  possible,  and  not  daring  to  put  out  his 
hand  again  lest  it  should  rest  on  some 
horror,  some  crawling  thing  or  clammy 
hand,  he  tried  with  all  his  might  to  go  to 
sleep.  He  was  dozing  off  and  had  almost 
succeeded,  when  a  slight  noise  aroused 
him.  In  a  moment  a  light  shone  under  the 
door. 

He  scrambled  eagerly  to  his  feet,  and 
tapped  softly.  "  Gridley  !  "  he  whispered, 
"  Gridley  I  Is  that  you  ?  " 

No  one  answered,  but  the  bearer  of  the 
light  seemed  to  pause  in  the  middle  of  the 
floor  as  if  struck  by  a  sudden  thought. 


A  LITTLE  WIZARD.  93 

Then  Jack  heard  the  bolts  of  the  outer 
door  withdrawn,  and  even  in  his  closet  felt 
a  rush  of  cold  air.  Some  one  was  going 
out  1 

"  Gridley  1  Gridley ! "  he  cried  desper- 
ately. "  Let  me  out,  will  you  ?  Please 
let  me  out." 

But  Gridley,  if  Gridley  it  was,  took  no 
heed.  The  light  disappeared,  and  Jack 
heard  the  door  close  as  softly  as  it  had 
been  opened. 

He  sat  down,  whimpering  and  wonder- 
ing. The  use  of  candles  was  so  uncom- 
mon in  that  house  that  he  could  not  re- 
member to  have  once  seen  one  lighted, 
though  he  knew  that  a  lanthorn  hung  be- 
hind the  kitchen  door.  Who  then  was 
this  who  used  them,  and  went  in  and  out 
by  night  with  a  foot  fall  which  scarcely 
broke  the  stillness  ?  The  lad  felt  his  hair 
move  and  his  skin  creep  as  he  crouched 
trembling  in  the  darkness.  Then,  on  a 


94  A  LITTLE  WIZARD. 

sudden,  lie  heard  the  door  creak  afresh  and 
the  footstep  return — the  same  stealthy, 
cautious  footstep,  it  seemed  to  him,  which 
he  had  heard  before.  But  this  time  there 
was  no  light. 

None  the  less  was  he  sure  that  some  one 
was  now  standing  in  the  middle  of  the 
floor,  within  a  yard  or  two  of  his  place  of 
confinement.  His  ears,  strained  to  the 
utmost,  caught  the  sound  of  hurried 
breathing  close  to  him,  and  besides  he  had 
that  ill-defined  sense  of  another's  presence 
which  we  are  all  apt  to  feel.  Terrified  aa 
he  was,  he  still  clung  desperately  to  the 
idea  that  it  was  Gridley,  and  he  called  the 
man's  name  again,  his  voice  shaking  with 
fear.  To  his  surprise  he  this  time  got 
an  answer. 

"  Hush !  "  some  one  muttered  in  the 
darkness.  "  Who  is  that  ?  " 

"  It  is  I — Jack,"  the  boy  cried  joyfully 
"  Please  to  let  me  out." 


A  LITTLE  WIZARD.  95 

"  Where  are  you  ?  " 

"  I  am  locked  in  the  closet  by  the  fire- 
place,  Gridley." 

"  Hush  I     Is  the  key  in  the  door  ?  " 

"  I  think  so  1 "  Jack  answered  desper« 
ately.  "  Oh,  please,  please  let  me  out." 

There  was  the  sound  of  a  hand  being 
passed  over  the  door,  as  if  some  one  un- 
acquainted with  it,  and  uncertain  on  which 
side  it  opened,  were  groping  for  the  fast- 
ening. It  seemed  an  age  to  the  boy  be. 
fore  the  key  grated  suddenly  in  the  lock 
and  the  door  yielded,  and  he  felt  the  cold 
air  rush  in.  For  a  moment  he  still  hung 
back. 

"Is  it  you,  Gridley?"  he  whispered 
timidly,  putting  out  his  hand  and  trying  to 
pierce  the  darkness,  which  was  scarcely  less 
dense  in  the  kitchen  than  in  the  closet. 

"  No,  it  is  I— Frank  f  "  his  brother's 
voice  answered.  And  thereon  a  hand 
seized  him  roughly  by  the  shoulder  and  drew 


96  A  LITTLE  WIZARD. 

him  out.  "  I  must  have  food — food  I  "  the 
voice  hissed  in  his  ear.  "  Don't  waste  a 
moment,  lad,  but  tell  me  where  it  is  kept. 
The  woman  is  outside  digging  among  the 
trees — heaven  knows  on  what  witch's  er- 
rand 1  She  may  return  at  any  moment 
Where  is  the  food  kept  ?  " 

The  harsh,  fierce  note  in  his  brother's 
voice  did  more  than  any  words  to  persuade 
the  boy  of  the  necessity  of  haste.  Col- 
lecting his  senses  as  well  as  he  could,  he 
answered,  "  Will  oatmeal  do,  Frank  ?  " 

"  Better  than  nothing,"  was  the  answer. 
"  Where  is  the  tub  ?  Lead  me  to  it." 

Jack  felt  his  way  to  the  chest,  and  found 
it ;  to  his  joy  it  was  still  unfastened.  His 
brother  rapidly  took  out  several  handfuls 
and  thrust  them  into  his  pouch.  "  Have 
you  no  cheese,  oatcake,  nothing  else,  lad  ?  " 
he  muttered. 

Jack  remembered  the  scraps  of  cheese 
and  cake  which  he  still  carried  in  the 


A  LITTLE  WIZARD.  87 

bosom  of  his  jacket,  and  gave  them  into 
the  other's  hand.  "  Now  I  am  off,"  Frank 
muttered  on  the  instant.  "  I  can  do  with 
this  until  to-morrow  night.  If  the  woman 
finds  me  here  I  must  do  her  a  mischief,  and 
I  do  not  want  to.  So  good-night,  lad  1 " 

He  glided  hurriedly  away,  leaving  the 
child  standing  in  the  middle  of  the  floor. 
Jack  heard  him  go,  and  heard  the  door 
open  and  shut;  and  still  stood  listening, 
wondering  whether  it  was  all  a  dream, 
or  his  brother  had  really  been  and  was 
gone.  Assured  at  length  that  he  had 
had  to  do  with  reality,  he  wondered 
what  course  he  ought  to  take  himself. 
He  had  no  mind  to  go  back  to  hia 
former  prison,  in  comparison  with  which 
his  hard  bed  upstairs  seemed  the  height 
of  comfort ;  and  so  he  presently  crept  to 
the  closet  door,  and  turned  the  key,  and 
then  felt  his  way  up  to  his  room.  Gridley 
was  not  there,  but  this  troubled  him  little. 


98  A  LITTLE  WIZAED. 

He  threw  off  his  clothes  in  a  hurry,  and  in 
a  moment  was  in  bed,  where  he  lay  listen- 
ing with  all  his  ears.  He  heard  Mistress 
Gridley  come  back,  and  detected  the  sound 
of  the  key  as  she  turned  it  in  the  outer 
door.  He  trembled  lest  she  should  come 
up  to  look  for  him,  but  nothing  of  the 
kind  happened ;  and  while  he  still  listened, 
the  fatigues  of  the  day  proved  too  much 
for  him  and  he  fell  asleep. 

It  was  broad  day,  and  the  sun  had  been 
up  for  hours,  and  the  house  astir  as  many, 
when  he  awoke  in  his  bed  and  found  three 
people  gazing  at  him.  Instinctively  at 
sight  of  their  faces  he  began  to  cry,  ex- 
pecting a  blow,  or  to  be  roughly  plucked 
up  and  upbraided  for  his  laziness.  But  no 
blow  came,  nor  did  either  of  the  three  per- 
sons who  looked  at  him  with  eyes  of  such 
astonishment  and  perplexity  offer  to  touch 
him. 

"  You  are  sure  that  the  door  was  really 


A  LITTLE  WIZARD.  99 

locked  ?  "  one  of  the  men  was  saying  when 
he  awoke. 

"  Am  I  sure  that  you  stand  there  ?  "  the 
woman  answered  tartly.  "  Am  I  one  to 
make  a  mistake  of  that  kind  ?  " 

Simon  Gridley  shook  his  head.  "  I  re- 
member now,"  he  muttered,  "  that  I  tried 
the  door  myself.  It  was  locked  sure 
enough." 

"  And  it  was  locked  this  morning,"  Mis- 
tress Gridley  added. 

Luke's  eyes,  always  wild,  glittered  with 
excitement.  It  was  difficult  to  believe 
that  he  saw  or  could  see  anything  except 
helplessness  in  the  child  who  quaked  and 
shrank  before  them  :  but  so  it  was.  "  There 
are  those  whom  locks  will  not  bind,  but 
they  shall  be  bound  on  the  Great  Day  I  " 
he  said  in  a  hollow  voice ;  "  of  such  it  is 
written,  '  These  shell  ye  make  to  cease 
from  the  earth  1 ' " 

"  Tut  tut  1 "   Simon  answered  sternly 


100  A  LITTLE  WIZARD. 

"  This  is  folly.  What  does  the  lad  say 
himself?  Who  let  him  out  ?  " 

"  Ay,  who  let  you  out,  you  imp  of 
Satan  ?  "  the  woman  cried  fiercely. 

But  the  boy  discerned  that,  with  all  her 
fierceness,  panic  and  terror  possessed  her ; 
and  it  was  this  evidence  of  an  evil  con- 
science which  inspired  him  to  answer  as  he 
did,  "  A  woman  came  down  stairs  with  a 
light  in  a  lanthorn,"  he  said. 

The  men  stared  and  waited  for  more,  but 
the  woman  recoiled  with  a  pale  face.  "You 
little  liar !  "  she  cried  hoarsely.  "  What 
woman  ?  What  woman  is  there  here  ?  " 

The  boy  shook  his  head.  "  I  did  not 
see  her  face,"  he  said,  "  but  she  came  down 
with  a  lanthorn." 

Mistress  Gridley  gasped.  The  boy  knew 
something,  but  she  could  not  tell  how 
much.  And  then  beyond  this  doubt  lay 
the  mystery,  which  was  as  much  of  a  mys- 
tery to  her  as  to  the  others,  how  he  came 


A  LITTLE  WIZARD.  101 

to  be  here  instead  of  in  the  locked  cup- 
board. 

"  Bring  the  lanthorn  !  "  Simon  Gridley 
exclaimed  on  a  sudden.  "  We  can  see  if 
it  has  been  lately  used,  at  any  rate ;  and 
so  far  test  his  story." 

His  wife  went  for  it.  When  she  re- 
turned with  it,  it  was  empty.  "  There  is 
no  candle  in  it,"  she  said  sullenly.  "  The 
boy  is  a  liar." 

Simon  took  it  from  her  hand  and  thrust 
his  nose  into  the  opening.  "  Softly, 
woman,"  he  said.  "  It  has  been  used 
within  the  week.  Come,  boy,"  he  con- 
tinued sharply,  "  who  opened  the  door  for 
you  ?  " 

"  I  saw  no  one,"  the  child  answered  with 
tears.  "  There  was  a  woman  with  a  lan- 
thorn. But  I  saw  no  one  when  the  door 
was  opened ! " 

Simon  glared  at  him  impatiently,  and 
raised  his  hand  as  if  he  were  minded  to  try 


102  A  LITTLE  WIZARD. 

if  a  little  correction  would  not  render  his 
account  more  intelligible ;  but  Luke, 
breaking  in  with  one  of  his  fierce  rhap- 
sodies, called  off  his  brother's  attention, 
and  the  three,  without  further  questioning, 
went  downstairs  to  discuss  the  matter 
there.  Simon  alone,  however,  was  able  to 
do  so  with  any  degree  of  coolness  and 
judgment ;  for  though  the  woman  did  not 
altogether  agree  with  Luke's  interpreta- 
tion, or  find  his  gloomy  fancies  convincing, 
she  had  more  substantial  reasons  than 
either  of  the  others  for  fearing  and  hating 
the  child :  and  no  more  notion  than  they 
had  how  he  had  contrived  to  free  himself 
from  the  closet  in  which  she  had  placed 
him.  That  riddle  she  could  not  read  ;  and 
the  longer  she  considered  it,  the  darker 
grew  her  thoughts  and  suspicions,  until 
nothing,  not  even  Luke's  sombre  theory, 
seemed  too  strange  or  too  improbable  for 
Belief.  Conscience  makes  not  only  cowards 


A  LITTLE  WIZARD.  103 

of  us  all,  but  the  most  credulous  of  cow- 
ards. 

Jack  would  scarcely  have  escaped  fur- 
ther examination  but  for  the  return  of  the 
butler ;  who  brought  such  news  as  not 
only  broke  up  the  family  council,  but 
caused  the  bearer  to  be  taken  back  into 
fellowship.  The  main  road  westward  to 
Clitheroe  and  Preston  crossed  the  moor 
not  far  from  the  house.  He  came  to  say 
that  the  advanced  guard  of  the  Parliamen- 
tary army  was  even  then  passing  along  it. 
Simon  and  Luke,  with  the  Edgingtons, 
who  arrived  at  the  moment,  hurried  off  on 
the  instant  to  a  sight  than  which  none 
could  be  better  calculated  to  fill  their  stern 
breasts  with  joy.  This  left  Mistress  Grid- 
ley  and  the  butler  together,  and  they  had 
so  much  to  say  to  one  another  that  the 
boy,  stealing  timidly  downstairs,  found 
himself  ignored,  and,  seizing  the  oppor- 
tunity, slipped  out  on  his  own  account  at 


104  A  LITTLE  WIZARD. 

the  back  of  the  house.  Taking  every  pre- 
caution he  could  think  of  to  avoid  notice, 
he  passed  through  the  yew-trees,  and 
reached  the  mouth  of  the  rift  in  safety. 

Here  he  waited  a  little,  sitting  on  the 
ground,  and  presently  Frank  came  to 
him.  "  Are  you  quite  sure  you  are  not 
followed,  lad  ?  "  he  said,  glancing  warily 
round. 

Jack  replied  that  he  was,  and  brought 
out  a  little  food  which  he  had  managed  to 
secrete.  Then  he  told  his  brother  what  he 
had  heard  about  the  march  of  Cromwell's 
army.  "  They  say  the  main  body  will  pass 
to-morrow,"  he  added. 

"  Preston  way,  do  you  say  ?  " 

«  Yes." 

Frank's  face  grew  dark  and  thoughtful. 
"  If  he  is  in  strength  he  will  take  them  by 
surprise,"  he  muttered.  "  What  does  he 
number,  I  wonder?  Has  he  got  only  Ash- 
ton  and  the  western  Presbyterians,  or  is 


A   LITTLE  WIZAED.  105 

his  southern  army  with  him  ?  If  I  knew, 
I  would  get  across  the  moors  at  all  risks, 
and  take  the  news.  But  it  would  not  do 
to  go  with  wolf  in  one's  mouth,  and  be 
called  a  fool  and  a  croaker  for  pay  1  " 

"  They  talk  of  twenty-five  thousand 
men  passing  to-morrow,"  Jack  said. 

"  If  that  be  true,  and  the  Duke  be 
marching,  as  he  was  marching  three  days 
back,  with  his  head  a  score  of  miles  from 
his  tail,  he  will  be  cut  in  two  as  surely  as 
he  lives !  "  Frank  cried  with  an  oath.  He 
started  up  and  began  to  pace  the  hollow, 
three  steps  this  way  and  three  that,  while 
Jack  watched  him  eagerly.  Four-and- 
twenty  hours  of  skulking  had  not  im- 
proved the  fugitive's  appearance.  He  was 
hatless  and  had  lost  his  sword.  His  face 
was  caked  with  dust  and  sweat,  his  clothes 
were  frayed  and  stained  with  blood.  He 
had  torn  off  part  of  one  sleeve  to  bind  his 
head,  and  this,  with  his  unshaven  chin  and 


106  A   LITTLE   WIZARD. 

haggard  eyes,  contributed  to  his  wild  and 
desperate  appearance. 

Yet  the  boy  looked  at  him  with  pure 
admiration.  The  lad  felt  himself  a  man 
by  reason  of  the  share  he  had  in  his  perils. 
The  younger  brother  longed  to  help  the 
elder.  "  You  can  see  the  road  from  the 
lower  moor,"  he  said  eagerly  ;  "  that  is  no 
more  than  a  mile  from  here.  Could  you 
not  go  there  and  see  them  pass,  Frank, 
and  then  go  to  the  Duke  ?  " 

"  Could  I  see  them  pass  in  these 
clothes  ?  "  Frank  answered,  with  a  bitter 
smile.  "  True,  I  am  not  much  like  a  cav- 
alier, but  I  am  not  much  like  a  Parlia- 
ment man  either  !  I  should  have  the  cry 
raised  on  me  before  I  was  a  mile  across 
the  moor." 

"  I  forgot  that,"  the  boy  said  despond- 
ently. "  Yet  it  would  be  a  great  thing  to 
warn  Duke  Hamilton,  Frank,  would  itj 


A  LITTLE  WIZARD.  107 

not  ?  Do  you  think  he  will  be  beaten  if 
you  cannot  reach  him  ?  " 

The  elder  brother  nodded  gloomily, 
standing  still  and  gazing  at  the  ground. 
The  sides  of  the  rift  rose  high  above  them, 
for  the  place  where  Jack  had  seated  him- 
self to  wait  lay  close  to  the  yew  wood, 
where  the  fissure  at  its  first  starting  from 
the  ravine  was  deepest.  They  had  little 
to  fear  from  observation  ;  and  familiarity 
with  danger  so  early  breeds  contempt  that 
Frank  fancied  he  had  been  in  hiding  here 
a  week  instead  of  a  day,  and  felt  a  propor- 
tionate confidence  in  his  lurking  place. 
The  sun  lay  hot  on  the  moor :  the  shadow 
where  the  two  stood  was  cool  and  pleasant. 

"  I  suppose  I  could  not  do  it,"  Jack 
said  at  last,  humbly,  and  as  one  expecting 
a  rebuff.  "  I  am  afraid  I  could  not  count 
well  enough,  Frank  ;  but  I  will  try,  if  you 
like." 

His  brother  looked  at  him  with  a  sudden 


108  A  LITTLE  WIZARD. 

light  in  his  face.  "  You  ?  "  lie  said.  "  I 
never  thought  of  that !  " 

But  he  began  to  think  of  it ;  and  as  he 
thought,  his  face  bore  witness  to  the  strug- 
gle which  was  passing  in  his  mind.  The 
lad  beside  him  was  a  mere  child  ;  the  risk 
to  which  he  would  expose  him  was  such 
that  a  grown  man  might  shun  it  without 
shame.  And  the  boy  was  not  a  child  only, 
but  his  own  brother — one  who  had  a  claim 
upon  him  and  a  right  to  expect  at  his 
hands  peculiar  care  and  protection. 

He  knew,  in  a  word,  that  he  was  not 
Justified  in  exposing  the  child  to  the  risk 
he  meditated.  But  on  the  other  side  lay 
inclination  and  more  than  one  cunning 
argument.  The  prospect  of  turning  de- 
feat into  victory,  and  building  on  misfor- 
tune a  claim  to  gratitude  shone  brightly 
before  him.  He  saw  himself  the  saviour 
of  the  army,  thanked,  honored,  and  ex« 
alted  by  men  who  had  lately  looked  coldly 


But  he  began  to  think  of  it.— Page 


A  LITTLE  WIZARD.  109 

on  him.  And  then  again  was  it  not  the 
duty  of  every  subject,  37oung  and  old,  to 
dare  all  for  the  King ;  to  think  nothing 
which  aided  him  dishonorable,  nor  any 
danger  by  which  he  might  profit  exces- 
sive ?  In  some  such  creed  he  had  been 
brought  up,  and  it  came  to  his  help  at 
this  moment. 

"  I  do  not  see  why  you  should  not  do 
it,"  he  said  slowly  and  thoughtfully. 
"  You  would  run  less  risk  after  all  than  a 
grown  man,  and  be  subject  to  less  suspic- 
ion." 

"  Only  I  don't  think  I  could  count — not 
thousands,"  said  Jack  despondently. 

"  That  is  easily  managed,"  Frank  an- 
swered with  a  slight  frown.  "  But  you 
had  better  not  do  it  if  you  are  afraid." 

"I  am  not  afraid,"  Jack  said,  with  a 
flushed  face.  "  It  is  only  the  counting, 
Frank." 

Frank  nodded  and  stood  awhile  in  doubt, 


110  A  LITTLE  WIZARD. 

twisting  a  bit  of  fern  to  and  fro  between 
his  fingers.  "  If  they  caught  you  doing 
it  they  might — I  do  not  know  what  they 
would  do  to  you,  Jack,  lad,"  he  said  at 
last. 

"  I  do  not  mind,"  the  boy  cried  bravely. 
"  It  is  for  the  King,  is  it  not,  Frank  ?  " 

"  Of  course  it  is." 

"  It  might  put  him  on  the  throne  again, 
might  it  not,  Frank  ?  " 

"  It  might,"  said  Frank.    "  But " 

"  What  ?  "  the  boy  asked,  his  face  fall- 
ing at  the  word. 

Frank  did  not  answer.  The  child's  loy- 
alty and  courage  touched  him  almost  to 
the  point  of  giving  way.  For  a  moment 
it  was  on  his  tongue  and  in  his  mind  to 
refuse  the  offer.  But  then  his  own  past 
error  stepped  in  his  way.  The  temptation 
to  turn  the  tables  by  a  dazzling  success  on 
those  who  had  blamed  him  for  his  breach 
of  parole — the  still  greater  temptation  to 


A  LITTLE  WIZARD.  Ill 

justify  the  breach  by  showing,  at  least, 
that  he  had  not  sinned  in  vain,  overcame 
him. 

"  You  think  you  could  do  it,  lad  ?  "  he 
said  at  last — instead  of  that  which  he  had 
meant  to  say. 

"  I  am  sure  I  could — if  I  could  count," 
Jack  answered  eagerly. 

u  Well,  then,  look  here,"  Frank  said. 
"  Or  wait  a  moment." 

He  began  to  search  up  and  down  the 
rift  until  he  came  upon  two  pieces  of 
wood,  one  a  foot  long  or  something  less, 
the  other  half  as  long.  He  trimmed  them 
with  his  knife,  and  then  cutting  off  one  of 
the  points  which  fastened  his  breeches  at 
the  knee,  tied  the  two  sticks  together  with 
it  in  such  a  way  that  they  became  a  rude 
cross.  He  put  it  into  Jack's  hands,  and 
gave  him  his  knife  also.  "  Now,"  he  said, 
"  look  here  1  The  thing  I  want  you  to 
notice  first  and  foremost,  lad,  is  the  num- 


112  A  LITTLE  WIZARD. 

ber  of  guns.  For  every  cannon,  Jack, 
cut  a  nick  on  this  long  piece.  Do  you  see, 
Jack  ?  For  a  regiment  of  foot  cut  a 
notch  on  the  right  arm.  They  will  pass 
by  in  regiments,  probably  with  a  space  be- 
tween, for  they  have  discipline  enough  to 
suit  old  Leslie,  and  so  you  will  have  no 
trouble  with  them.  The  horse  you  will 
not  count  easily,  and  may  not  be  exact 
with  them.  Still,  notch  them  on  the  other 
arm  as  well  as  you  can,  troop  by  troop. 
If  you  get  the  cannon  and  foot  regiments 
right,  I  shall  be  able  to  guess  the  horse 
pretty  nearly." 

"  And  then  shall  I  bring  it  to  you  ?  " 
Jack  said,  gazing  with  childish  pleasure 
at  his  new  plaything. 

"  Yes,  as  soon  as  you  think  that  they 
have  all  passed.  But  do  not  be  in  a 
hurry.  When  you  come,  if  you  do  not 
find  me,  leave  the  cross  on  the  bank  here 
under  the  moss.  Do  you  understand  now  ? " 


A  LITTLE  WIZARD.  113 

"  Yes,  I  understand,"  said  Jack. 

"  It  will  not  be  the  only  thing  hidden 
here,"  his  brother  continued.  "  Look,  lad, 
what  do  you  think  of  that  ?  " 

He  displaced  some  overhanging  moss 
with  his  hand,  and  Jack,  looking  into  the 
crevice  thus  revealed,  fairly  gasped  with 
surprise.  "  Why,  they  are " 

"  They  are  the  gold  vessels  from  Patten- 
hall  Church  I  "  Frank  exclaimed,  in  a  tone 
of  triumph.  "  I  have  despoiled  the  spoil- 
ers !  The  woman  who  came  out  with  the 
light  last  night  had  them  buried  under 
yonder  tree — the  one  you  can  see  at  the 
end  here.  Come  this  way,  and  I  will  show 
you !  When  I  slipped  out,  fearing  she 
might  surprise  me,  I  found  her  at  work 
covering  something  up  with  a  spade.  I 
watched  her  go,  and  then  as  soon  as  it 
was  light  I  tried  my  luck  there.  I  found 
these  little  matters  tied  up  in  a  napkin." 

"  And  you  took  them  ?  "  Jack  said. 
8 


114  A  LITTLE  WIZARD. 

"  Took  them  ?  Of  couse  I  took  them. 
I  put  three  stones  in  the  napkin  in  place 
of  them,  and  filled  up  the  ground  neatly. 
And  one  of  these  days  some  one  will  be 
disappointed." 

"  Hush ! "  said  Jack,  raising  his  hand 
quickly.  "  What  is  that  ?  " 


A  LITTLE  WIZARD.  115 

CHAPTER  VI. 

DEAD   SEA   APPLES. 

THE  two  had  advanced  without  thought 
to  the  foot  of  the  tree  which  Frank  had 
indicated,  and  in  doing  so  had  quitted  the 
shelter  of  the  rift,  from  which  an  open 
space  a  dozen  yards  in  width  now  sep- 
arated them.  The  deep  shade  of  the  yew- 
tree  which  stretched  its  arms  above  them 
still  afforded  some  protection,  the  glare  of 
the  sun  on  the  moorland  intensifying  its 
gloom  and  blackness.  But  such  protection 
was  partial  only  ;  it  could  not  avail  against 
persons  approaching  the  tree  closely. 

The  horror  of  the  two  may  be  imagined, 
therefore,  when  the3T  awoke  suddenly  to 
this  fact,  and  to  the  conviction  that  some 
one  was  approaching — nay,  was  already 
near.  Before  Jack's  muttered  warning 


116  A  LITTLE  WIZARD. 

had  well  been  uttered,  the  sharp  crack  of 
a  stick,  broken  under  foot,  and  the  tones 
of  voices  drawing  each  moment  nearer 
placed  the  danger  beyond  dispute. 

For  a  moment  the  brothers  stood  as 
still  as  stones,  the  man's  face  growing 
hard  and  stern  as  he  listened  and  compre- 
hended too  late  the  reckless  folly  he  had 
committed  in  leaving  a  secure  hiding-place 
at  that  time  of  the  day.  His  eyes  trav- 
eled from  the  boy's,  in  which  he  read  a 
pitiful  alarm  more  overmastering  if  less 
intense  than  his  own,  to  the  space  which 
separated  him  from  the  rift  and  from 
safety.  Alas !  he  measured  it  with  a  de- 
spairing eye.  A  moment  before  he  could 
have  passed  that  interval  at  a  bound,  and 
at  will ;  now  he  recognized  with  an  in- 
ward groan  that  the  attempt  was  hopeless. 
A  single  step  in  that  direction  must  place 
him  at  once  in  full  view  of  those  who 
were  approaching. 


A  LITTLE  WIZARD.  117 

Would  they  stop  short  of  the  tree 
which  hid  him  ?  That  seemed  his  only 
chance.  He  set  his  teeth  together,  and 
gripped  Jack's  shoulder  hard  as  he  lis- 
tened, and  heard  them  still  come  on — 
come  on  and  come  nearer.  His  brain 
sought  desperately  for  some  way,  some 
plan  of  escape.  At  the  last  moment, 
when  all  seemed  lost,  and  less  than  a  score 
of  paces  now  lay  between  him  and  the 
newcomers,  he  hit  upon  one  which  might 
possibly  help  him. 

"  It  is  that  woman ! "  he  hissed  in 
Jack's  ear.  "  Lie  down  and  pretend  to  be 
asleep  1  Take  their  attention  for  a  mo- 
ment only,  and  I  may  slip  round  this  tree 
and  reach  another." 

Jack,  poor  lad,  was  almost  paralyzed 
with  terror,  but  he  understood ;  and  he 
found  one  part  of  his  instructions  easy 
enough  to  execute.  His  knees  were  &l-> 
ready  so  weak  under  him  with  fear  and 


118  A   LITTLE  WIZARD. 

excitement  that  he  sank  to  the  ground  un- 
der the  pressure  of  his  brother's  hand, 
with  scarce  any  volition  of  his  own ;  and 
crouching  in  the  shadow  with  his  knees 
drawn  up  to  his  chin,  remained  motionless 
with  dismay. 

For  a  moment  after  reaching  the  spot, 
Mistress  Gridley  and  the  butler  did  not 
see  him.  The  boy  sat  deep  in  the  shadow, 
and  the  sun  shone  in  their  eyes  as  they 
crossed  from  one  tree  to  another,  and  from 
that  one  to  the  farthest  of  all.  The  butler 
had  even  begun  the  argument  afresh — 
they  had  been  disputing  about  the  re- 
moval of  the  treasure — and  had  stuck  his 
spade  into  the  ground  that  he  might  lean 
upon  it  while  he  talked,  when  he  espied 
the  pale  face  shining  in  the  gloom  beside 
the  trunk,  and  started  with  affright. 
"  Ha ! "  he  exclaimed  in  a  high  tone, 
"  what  is  that  ?  " 

The  woman  started  too.     Her  mind  was 


A   LITTLE  WIZARD.  119 

ill  at  ease ;  and  it  was  strange  that  the 
child  should  have  chosen  that  particular 
square  yard  of  ground  to  sit  upon.  But 
she  recovered  herself  more  quickly. 
"  You  little  brat  1 "  she  cried,  peering  at 
him  with  her  eyes  shaded,  "  what  are  you 
doing  here?  Be  off!  Go  to  the  house, 
and  stay  there  till  I  come,  do  you  hear  ?  " 

The  child  did  not  move. 

"  Do  you  hear,  you  little  booby  ?  "  she 
repeated  angrily.  "  Get  up  and  be  off  be- 
fore I  give  you  something  to  remember 
me  by  !  "  As  she  spoke,  she  advanced  a 
step  nearer  to  him  and  raised  her  hand  to 
strike  him. 

Still  the  child  did  not  move:  and  the 
woman's  hand  fell  harmless  by  her  side. 
The  peculiar  pallor  of  the  boy's  face,  a 
pallor  heightened  by  the  shade  in  which 
he  sat,  his  immobility,  the  strangeness  of 
his  attitude  and  position,  above  all  the 
fixed  glare  of  his  eyes,  had  their  effect 


120  A  LITTLE  WIZARD. 

upon  her,  scared  and  impressed  as  she 
already  was  by  his  unexplained  delivery 
from  the  closet.  She  hesitated  and  fell 
back  a  step. 

The  butler,  who  knew  nothing  of  the 
closet  episode,  attributed  the  move  to  pru- 
dence. "  Soft  and  easy,"  he  muttered  ap- 
provingly, "  or  he  may  suspect  something. 
It  is  odd  he  should  be  here." 

"  Suspect !  "  the  woman  answered  with 
a  shiver  ;  for  when  a  strong  nature  gives 
way  to  panic,  the  rout  is  complete.  "  I 
doubt  he  knows.  The  child  is  not  canny," 
she  added,  staring  at  him  in  an  odd, 
shrinking  fashion. 

The  butler  was  at  all  times  a  coward, 
and  without  understanding  the  woman's 
reasons  he  felt  the  influence  of  her  fear. 
"  Not  canny  !  "  he  said  uneasily  ;  "  why, 
what  is  the  matter  with  him  ?  Hi,  Jack, 
my  boy,  what  are  you  doing  here  ?  "  he 
continued,  addressing  the  lad  with  a  poor 


A  LITTLE  WIZARD.  121 

attempt  at  good-fellowship.  "  Are  you 
ill,  or  what  is  it  ?  " 

The  boy  did  not  move. 

Gridley  advanced  gingerly  towards 
him,  as  a  timid  man  approaches  a  strange 
dog.  When  he  came  near,  however,  and 
saw  that  it  really  was  the  boy,  little  Jack 
Patten  whom  he  had  known  from  his 
birth,  the  assurance  made  him  laugh  at  the 
woman's  fears.  "  Come,  get  up,  lad,"  he 
said  roughly  ;  "  get  up  and  go  and  play  !  " 

He  seized  Jack  by  the  collar  and  raised 
him  to  his  feet.  "  Jump,  lad,  jump  1 "  he 
said.  "Be  offl  You  will  get  the  ague 
here.  Go  into  the  sun  and  play  I " 

The  boy  had  shaken  off  his  first  terror. 
Frank,  he  thought,  must  be  safe  by  this 
time.  He  kept  his  feet  therefore,  but  hesi- 
tated in  doubt  what  to  do;  standing,  to 
outward  view  a  sullen  pale-faced  child,  be- 
side the  dark  trunk  of  the  yew.  Gridley 
noticed  that  he  kept  his  one  hand  closed, 


122  A  LITTLE  WIZARD. 

and  acting  on  a  momentary  impulse  asked 
him  roughly  what  he  had  there.  The  boy, 
without  answering,  opened  his  fingers  me- 
chanically, disclosing  three  tiny  whinber- 
ries  which  he  had  picked  while  he  talked 
with  his  brother  in  the  rift,  and  had  invol- 
untarily retained  in  his  hand  ever  since. 
The  butler  struck  them  out  of  his  little 
palm  with  a  disappointed  "  pish  1 "  and 
turning  him  round  by  the  shoulder  sent 
him  off  with  a  push.  "  There,  go  and  pick 
some  more  1 "  he  said.  "  Be  off!  Be  off ! " 
The  lad  obeyed  slowly,  and  with  appar- 
ent reluctance.  When  he  was  out  of  sight, 
Gridley,  who  had  stepped  a  few  paces  from 
the  tree  that  he  might  watch  him  the  bet- 
ter, returned  and  picked  up  his  spade. 
"  There,  he  is  gone !  "  he  said,  with  an  in- 
quisitive look  at  the  woman,  whose  mood 
puzzled  him.  "  And  if  you  will  have  the 
things  up,  it  must  be  done.  Let  us  lose  no 
more  time." 


A  LITTLE  WIZARD.  123 

He  struck  the  spade  into  the  ground, 
and  began  to  dig,  while  his  companion 
watched  him.  But  her  face  betrayed  none 
of  the  greedy  excitement  which  had  always 
marked  it  before  when  the  treasure  was  in 
question.  Instead,  it  wore  a  look  of  dread 
and  expectation.  Something  like  grey 
fear  lay  like  a  shadow  upon  it,  and  left  it 
only  when  the  man  stopped  digging,  and 
throwing  down  his  spade,  dragged  a  small 
white  bundle  from  the  shallow  hole  he  had 
made. 

Then  she  showed  at  last  some  anima- 
tion. "  They  are  there,"  she  muttered,  her 
eyes  beginning  to  burn.  "  I  fancied " 

"  Oh,  they  are  here,"  he  answered,  chuck- 
ling as  he  stooped  to  unfasten  the  napkin. 
"  They  are  here,  never  fear  1  Safe  bind 
safe  find,  you  know,  my  lady." 

Scarcely  were  the  words  out  of  his 
mouth,  however,  when  he  fell  back  pale 
and  trembling.  A  hideous  look  of  disap- 


124  A  LITTLE  WIZARD. 

pointment  and  dismay  took  in  a  moment 
the  place  of  the  gloating  smile  which  had 
before  distorted  his  features.  The  napkin 
being  untied  disclosed  three  stones;  no 
gold,  no  cups,  no  treasure,  but  only  three 
stones  I 

For  a  moment  the  two  stood  silent  and 
thunderstruck,  gazing  at  the  pebbles, 
which  in  their  perfect  worthlessness  seemed 
to  mock  them.  Then  the  man  turned 
swiftly  and  suddenly  on  the  woman,  rage 
and  suspicion  so  transforming  him,  that 
he  did  not  look  like  the  same  person. 
"  You  hag ! "  he  cried,  with  lips  which 
writhed  under  the  effort  he  made  to  con- 
trol himself.  "  You  thieving  witch !  This 
is  your  work  !  Where  is  my  gold  ?  Where 
is  my  gold,  I  say  ? "  he  repeated  wildly. 
"  Tell  me,  or  I  will  murder  you  !  "  And 
he  advanced  upon  her,  his  hands  opening 
and  shutting  on  the  empty  air. 

His  frantic  gestures  and  the  passion  of 


A  LITTLE  WIZARD.  125 

his  manner  might  have  appalled  even  a 
brave  man.  But  the  woman,  who  had 
evinced  less  surprise  and  more  fear  on 
making  the  discovery,  waved  him  back 
with  the  purest  contempt.  "  Fool ! "  she 
hissed,  with  a  flash  of  scorn  in  her  eyes, 
"  do  you  think  that  I  should  have  played 
this  farce  with  you  ?  " 

"  But  the  gold  ?  "  he  cried,  cowering 
away  from  her  in  a  moment  like  the  craven 
he  was.  "  It  is  gone,  woman  !  It  is  gone, 
you  see !  If  you  have  not  taken  it,  who 
has?  For  heaven's  sake,  say  you  have 
taken  it,  and  hidden  it  somewhere  else !  " 

She  looked  darkly  at  him,  and  the  look 
did  more  to  persuade  him  she  was  inno- 
cent than  any  words.  He  wrung  his  hands 
and  all  but  wept.  "  Some  one  has  taken 
it,"  he  moaned.  "  It  is  gone,  and  I  shall 
never  see  it  again  1 " 

"  What  brought  the  boy  sitting  here  ?  n 
she  muttered  on  a  sudden. 


126  A  LITTLE  WIZARD. 

"  Jack  Patten  ?  " 

Mistress  Gridley  nodded  with  a  strange 
look  in  her  eyes.  "  Ay,  little  Jack.  And 
he  had  three  whinberries  in  his  hand,"  she 
continued  in  the  same  hushed  tone.  "  Look 
about,  if  you  are  not  afraid.  Find  the  whin- 
berries,  and  something  may  come  of  it  1  " 

He  did  not  understand,  but  he  saw  she 
was  in  deadly  earnest ;  and  he  was  a 
coward,  and  afraid  of  her.  "  The  whin- 
berries?"  he  stammered,  edging  a  pace 
away  from  her.  "  What  of  them  ?  " 

"  They  are  our  gold  cups,"  she  muttered 
between  fear  and  rage.  "  The  child  has 
bewitched  them." 

Gridley  cried  out  "  Nonsense."  But  all 
the  same  he  looked  quickly  over  his  shoul- 
der. The  sun  was  high  and  gave  him 
courage.  "  The  child  ?  "  he  said ;  "  why,  I 
have  known  him  from  his  birth  !  " 

"  Find  the  whinberries !  "  was  all  the  an- 
swer she  vouchsafed.  And  she  pointed 


A  LITTLE  WIZARD.  127 


imperatively  to  the  ground.     "  Find 
I  say,  if  you  are  not  afraid,  man." 

He  went  down  on  his  knees  and  began 
to  search.  But  the  earth  he  had  thrown 
out  of  the  hole  lay  thick  on  the  ground, 
and  he  failed  to  find  even  one  of  them.  He 
rose,  and  told  the  woman  so;  and  she 
nodded  as  if  she  had  expected  the  answer. 

He  shuddered  at  that.  He  saw  her 
afraid,  and  he  knew  she  feared  few  things. 
Besides,  she  had  all  the  influence  over  him 
which  a  strong  mind  is  sure  to  possess  over 
a  weak  one.  Seeing  her  afraid  he  grew 
fearful  also.  Though  he  did  not  believe,  he 
trembled.  He  remembered  how  strangely 
the  boy  had  looked  at  him,  how  obstinately 
he  had  refused  to  speak,  what  an  odd  per- 
sistence he  had  shown  in  clinging  to  that 
spot.  Yet  how  had  the  boy  known  ?  How 
had  he  found  the  place  ? 

Doubtfully  he  put  that  thought  into 
words,  and  got  his  answer.  "  How  did  he 


128  A  LITTLE  WIZARD. 

get  out  of  the  wood  closet  when  I  locked 
him  in  last  night  ? "  Mistress  Gridley 
asked  contemptuous^.  "  I  left  the  door 
locked  when  I  went  to  bed,  and  the  boy  in- 
side. I  found  the  door  locked  this  morn- 
ing, but  the  boy  was  in  his  own  bed.  That 
is  not  canny." 

"  He  may  have  taken  the  cups  without 
— without  that,"  said  the  butler,  glancing 
round  him  with  a  shiver. 

"  Then  where  are  they  ?  "  the  woman  re- 
torted swiftly.  "  Or  do  you  mean  that  he 
took  them  and  hid  them,  and  then  came 
again  and  sat  on  the  place  for  us  to  find 
him  ?  I  tell  you  the  lad  can  go  through 
locked  doors." 

The  butler  was  not  convinced,  but  he 
trembled.  He  stood  gnawing  his  nails 
with  a  gloomy  face,  one  thing  only  quite 
clear  to  him ;  that  whether  the  child  pos- 
sessed the  power  which  the  woman  attrib- 
uted to  him  or  not,  it  was  certainly  he  who 


A  LITTLE  WIZARD.  129 

had  taken  the  treasure.  This  excited  such 
a  degree  of  rage  in  Gridley's  mind  as  fear 
alone  kept  within  bounds.  He  longed  to 
follow  the  child  and  force  the  secret  and 
the  gold  from  him,  and  only  the  dread 
which  the  woman  manifested  kept  him 
from  doing  this  on  the  instant.  As  it  was, 
he  stood  undecided,  turning  over  in  his 
mind  all  the  stories  he  had  heard  of  strange 
powers  and  weird  possession — stories  which 
then  filled  all  the  country-side,  especially 
in  lonely  and  ill-populated  districts — and 
striving  to  recollect  whether  anything  in 
little  Jack's  history  seemed  to  bring  him 
within  the  scope  of  these  marvellous  nar- 
ratives. 

Mistress  Gridley  watched  him  for  a  time, 
but  presently  her  patience  gave  way.  She 
bade  him,  fiercely,  pick  up  the  spade  and 
come  to  the  house ;  and  together  the  two 
returned,  each  hating  the  other  as  the 

cause  of  a  fruitless  and  unprofitable  sin. 
9 


130  A  LITTLE  WIZARD. 

CHAPTER  VII. 

THE   WOODEN  CROSS. 

RELEASED  in  a  manner  so  much  beyond 
his  hopes,  Jack  lost  no  time  in  betaking 
himself  to  the  house,  where  he  found  all 
quiet  and  himself  alone  in  possession.  He 
had  every  reason  to  congratulate  himself 
on  the  success  of  his  scheme  ;  yet  he  knew 
he  was  not  out  of  the  wood.  Child  as  he 
was,  he  saw  that  the  woman,  finding  her- 
self robbed  in  that  place,  must  lay  the 
blame  on  him ;  and  in  his  dread  of  what 
would  happen  when  the  pair  returned,  he 
found  it  impossible  to  remain  still  a  mo- 
ment, but  wandered  from  front  to  back, 
and  kitchen  to  stairs,  expecting  yet  dread- 
ing the  first  sound  of  their  approach. 
When  it  came  he  crouched  in  the  chimney 
corner  and  held  his  breath,  waiting  for  the 
storm  to  break. 


A  LITTLE  WIZARD.  131 

And  there  the  woman  found  him  when 
she  entered.  She  had  not  expected  to  see 
him,  and  she  started  violently,  for  nothing 
her  companion  had  urged  had  availed  in 
the  least  to  shake  her  belief  in  the  child's 
dark  powers.  His  pale  face  and  huddled 
form  and  his  odd  and  elfish  position,  as  she 
came  upon  him,  in  the  shadowy  corner 
only  served  to  confirm  and  support  it. 
She  shrank  away  without  a  word,  and 
busied  herself  at  the  back  of  the  house, 
until  the  boy  finding  himself  free  from 
attack  took  heart  of  grace,  and  little  by 
little  emerged  from  his  retreat. 

He  could  not  understand  how  he  had 
escaped  suspicion  and  punishment,  but  the 
fact  was  enough,  and  his  spirits  soon  rose. 
He  wanted  no  reasons.  Assured  of  his 
brother's  safety,  and  delighted  to  think 
that  he  had  contributed  to  it,  he  could 
scarcely  restrain  the  impulse  that  would 
have  had  him  hunt  Frank  out  and  share 


132  A  LITTLE  WIZARD. 

his  joy  with  him.  Fortunately,  he  did  re- 
strain it,  however  ;  for  during  the  rest  of 
the  day  he  was  the  unconscious  object  of 
the  strictest  watchfulness.  Wherever  he 
went  and  whatever  he  did,  his  steps  were 
dogged  and  his  actions  noted,  though  he 
did  not  perceive  it  himself.  The  woman, 
by  an  immense  effort,  hid  her  fears,  while 
Gridley,  balanced  between  terrors  and  fits 
of  rage  which  became  at  times  ungovern- 
able, had  the  prudence  to  shun  the  object 
of  his  hatred,  and  leave  the  task  of  sur- 
veillance to  her. 

Accordingly,  the  child  remained  in  per- 
fect ignorance.  He  went  about  his  small 
and — to  the  adult  mind — incomprehensible 
employments  in  his  own  small  fashion ; 
playing  here  and  there,  and  presently 
rendering  the  woman's  task  more  easy  by 
the  completeness  with  which  he  gave  him- 
self up  to  rehearsing  the  morrow's  plan. 
Mistress  Gridley  found  him  continually 


A  LITTLE  WIZARD.  133 

slipping  away,  and  as  often  stalked  him 
into  corners,  where  she  soon  learned  that 
he  had  something  hidden  about  him — 
something  which  he  took  out  when  he  was 
alone,  and  put  away  stealthily  on  her  ap- 
proach. 

The  woman's  covetous  spirit  took  fire 
afresh  at  this  discovery,  and  for  the  mo- 
ment overcame  her  fears.  Her  eyes  began 
to  burn,  her  cheek  grew  hot.  When  he 
sauntered  away  again,  she  watched  him 
secretly,  and  by-and-by  marked  him  down 
in  a  corner  of  the  fold  where  the  wall  was 
highest.  There  she  saw  him  sit  down 
with  his  back  to  the  house  and  his  face  to 
the  wall,  and,  taking  something,  which  she 
could  not  see,  from  his  clothes,  begin  to 
toy  with  it,  stooping  over  it,  and  caressing 
it  with  the  utmost  devotion. 

She  did  not  doubt  that  the  thing  he 
fondled  in  this  strange  fashion  was  the 
treasure  of  which,  he  had  robbed  her  by  his 


134  A  LITTLE  WIZARD. 

arts ;  and  in  a  transport  of  auger  she 
slipped  out  of  the  house  by  the  back  door, 
and,  making  a  circuit,  stole  up  to  the 
corner,  keeping  on  the  farther  side  of  the 
wall.  When  she  reached  the  place  she 
paused  and  listened,  crouching  low  that  he 
might  not  see  her.  Ths  child  was  mutter- 
ing softly  to  himself — muttering  some 
monotonous  unintelligible  jargon,  which  in 
her  ears  could  be  nothing  but  a  charm. 
The  woman  shuddered  at  the  thought,  but 
still  she  persisted.  Cautiously  raising  her 
eyes  above  the  level  of  the  wall,  she  got  a 
sight  of  the  object  he  was  crooning  over. 
It  was  neither  gold  nor  cup  nor  treasure, 
but  a  strange-looking  cross  of  wood  1 

Mistress  Gridley  shrank  away,  trem- 
bling in  every  limb.  The  sight  confirmed 
all  her  apprehensions.  She  hurried  back 
to  the  house.  But  in  the  excitement  of 
the  pursuit  she  had  not  noticed  the  change 
ill  the  sky,  which  had  grown  in  the  last 


A  LITTLE  WIZARD.  135 

few  moments  dark  and  overcast.  The 
first  peal  of  the  tempest,  therefore,  sur- 
prised her  as  she  retreated.  Startled  and 
affrighted,  she  looked  up  and  saw  the 
black  canopy  impending  over  her  head; 
with  a  cry,  she  crouched  still  lower,  as  if 
she  might  in  that  way  escape  the  wrath 
she  had  invoked.  Her  nerves  were  so 
shaken  that  she  never  doubted  the  child 
had  brought  this  sudden  storm  upon  her, 
and  even  when  it  did  her  no  harm,  when  it 
resolved  itself  into  the  most  ordinary 
phenomenon  and  descended  in  sheets  of 
rain,  while  the  mountains  clothed  them- 
selves in  niist,  and  the  moor  streamed  at  a 
hundred  pores — even  then,  though  she  had 
seen  such  a  storm  a  hundred  times  and 
knew  its  every  aspect,  she  still  quailed.  A 
terror  of  great  darkness  was  upon  her. 
She  dared  no  longer  meet  the  child's  eyes, 
but  sat  in  the  farthest  corner  of  the  room, 
furtively  watching  him ;  while  the  eaves 


136  A  LITTLE  WIZARD. 

dripped  outside,  and  the  cold  light  of  a 
wet  summer  evening  stole  across  the  moor. 

When  he  was  gone  to  bed  and  his  eye 
withdrawn  from  her,  she  felt  more  at  ease. 
But  her  discomposure  was  still  so  great 
that  Simon  and  Luke  must  have  remarked 
it  when  they  returned,  if  they  had  not 
been  themselves  full  of  an  anxiety  which 
occupied  their  minds  to  the  exclusion  of 
everything  else. 

"  This  rain  !  "  Simon  cried,  as  he  shook 
out  his  dripping  cloak  on  the  floor  and 
turned  to  take  a  last  look  through  the  open 
door.  "Who  would  have  foreseen  it? 
Who  would  have  foreseen  it,  I  say,  this 
morning?  Never  did  sky  look  better. 
Yet  if  it  goes  on  through  the  night  they 
will  scarcely  get  the  guns  over  the  hills  by 
this  road.  The  General  will  be  late." 

"  It  grows  more  heavy,"  Luke  answered 
moodily,  looking  out  over  the  other's 
shoulder. 


A  LITTLE  WIZARD.  137 

"  Ay,  and  the  clouds  are  low,"  Simon 
assented.  "  I  never  knew  rain  more  sud- 
den in  my  life,  nor,  surely,  more  untimely. 
There  is  many  a  man  will  be  damp  to- 
night and  march  the  slower  to-morrow. 
Heaven  grant  it  hinders  the  malignants 
also !  " 

"  The  wind  is  westerly,"  Luke  answered 
shrewdly.  "  I  doubt  it." 

Simon  shrugged  his  shoulders  as  sharing 
the  doubt,  and  would  have  closed  the  door. 
But  at  that  moment  his  wife,  who  had 
already  risen  from  her  seat,  laid  her  hand 
on  his  arm.  The  hand  trembled.  The 
woman's  eyes  were  glittering,  her  cheeks 
white.  "  Simon !  "  she  said,  peering  into 
his  face,  and  speaking  in  a  tone  of  sup- 
pressed excitement,  "  what  is  it — this 
storm  ?  Whom  does  it  hinder  ?  What 
does  it  matter  ?  What  was  it  you  were 
saying  about  it  ?  " 

"  What  does  it  matter,  and  whom  does  it 


138  A  LITTLE  WIZARD. 

hinder  ?  "  the  man  answered  fiercely.  "  It 
hinders  the  Lord's  work,  woman  1  It 
matters  to  all  Christian  men  !  It  hinders 
guns  and  horses,  men  and  wagons,  that 
should  be  at  Preston  to-morrow  to  cut  off 
the  malignant  Hamilton  and  his  brood. 
In  twelve  hours,  if  this  rain  continues,  the 
road  to  Preston  will  be  a  quagmire,  and 
the  Philistines  will  laugh  at  us.  But  we 
must  rest  content.  It  is  the  Lord's 
doing !  " 

"  It  is  not  the  Lord's  doing  !  "  she  an- 
swered in  a  tone  of  surprising  emotion. 
"  It  is  not  his  doing  !  It  is  Satan's !  " 

"  Tush  !  "  said  her  husband,  harshly  ; 
but  he  started  nevertheless  at  her  tone. 
"  You  rave,  woman  I " 

"  I  do  not  rave !  "  she  answered,  throw- 
ing up  her  arms  wildly.  "  I  tell  you  this 
tempest,  that  you  talk  of — I  saw  it  raised ! 
This  hindrance — I  saw  it  begotten !  I — I, 
Simon  Gridley !  There  is  one  here  who 


'  It  is  not  the  Jyord's  doing  !"— Page  138. 


A.  LITTLE  WIZARD.  139 

can  brew  the  storm  and  hush  the  whirl- 
wind !  There  is  one  here  beside  whom  your 
General  is  powerless !  " 

u  Then  he  must  have  the  devil's  aid  in- 
deed ! "  Simon  answered,  with  a  grim 
chuckle.  "  But  softly,  wife,  what  is  this  ? " 

In  rapid,  hurried  words,  rendered 
weighty  by  the  terror  and  belief  which 
were  in  her,  the  woman  detailed  what  she 
had  seen  the  boy  do,  and  how  the  storm, 
of  which  the  heavens  had  given  so  little 
warning,  had  followed  immediatately 
thereon.  She  could  not  tell  them  all  the 
bases  of  her  belief;  she  dared  not  mention 
the  gold  vessels,  or  the  strange  scene  under 
the  yew-tree.  But  belief  in  such  things  is 
infectious.  The  mystery  of  the  locked 
door  was  still  a  mystery  unsolved  and  inex- 
plicable. That  they  all  knew ;  and  nothing 
in  the  solitary  life  these  people  had  led 
among  the  fells,  nothing  in  the  harsh, 
narrow  creed  they  professed,  or  in  their 


140  A  LITTLE  WIZARD. 

custom  of  literally  applying  the  Scriptures 
to  everyday  events,  was  at  odds  with  the 
conclusion  that  the  child  was  possessed  by 
an  evil  spirit.  No  one  in  that  day  was  so 
bold  as  to  doubt  the  existence  of  the  black 
art.  And  if  at  the  first  glance  this  help- 
less child  seemed  the  most  unlikely  of  pro- 
fessors, the  discovery  that  his  powers  were 
being  used  against  the  cause  which  they 
believed  to  be  the  cause  of  heaven, 
furnished  a  probability  which  enabled  them 
to  dispense  with  the  other.  The  men 
looked  in  each  other's  faces  uneasily.  The 
light  was  waning,  the  corners  of  the  room 
were  full  of  shadows.  Those  who  felt  no 
terror  felt  wrath,  which  was  near  akin  to 
it.  For  the  woman,  her  eyes  flickered  with 
hatred ;  which  was  only  more  intense  be- 
cause it  was  held  in  check  by  abject 
fear. 

At  length  Simon,  whose  bold  and  hardy 
spirit  alone  accepted  the  idea  with  any  real 


A  LITTLE  WIZARD.  141 

reluctance,  rose ;  they  had  long  ago  formed 
themselves  into  a  council  round  the  table. 

"  Hush ! "  he  said,  raising  his  hand. 
"  The  rain  has  stopped.  What  do  you  say 
to  that  ? " 

They  listened  and  found  that  it  was  so. 
The  eaves  no  longer  dripped. 

"  If  he  is  a  wizard,  he  is  a  poor  one," 
Simon  continued,  with  a  little  contempt  in 
his  tone.  "  But  if  you  will  have  it  so,  see 
here,  we  will  watch  him.  There  is  apower 
greater  than  his,  and  in  the  strength  of 
that  I  do  not  fear  him." 

The  woman  shuddered,  while  Luke,  who 
was  for  immediate  action,  replied  in  a  wild 
rhapsody,  quoting  the  priests  of  Baal  and 
the  witch  of  Endor,  the  order  of  the  law 
respecting  magicians,  and  the  fate  of 
Magus.  But  Simon  was  firm ;  he  was  not 
to  be  moved,  and  in  the  end  his  proposal 
was  accepted.  The  matter  was  thought 
so  momentous,  however,  that  it  was  de- 


142  A  LITTLE  WIZARD. 

tided  to  consult  the  Edgingtons  next  dayv 
and  bring  them  into  the  affair. 

When  all  was  settled  Simon  rose,  and 
went  to  the  door  and  threw  it  open.  He 
knew  that,  within  a  circuit  of  a  few  miles 
from  where  he  stood,  thousands  upon 
thousands  of  soldiers  were  at  that  moment 
lying  under  the  bare  heavens,  without  so 
much  as  a  tree  to  cover  them  ;  and  he  had 
a  soldier's  feeling  for  their  distresses.  He 
saw  with  satisfaction,  therefore,  that  though 
the  clouds  still  hung  low,  in  one  quarter 
there  was  a  rift  in  them,  through  which 
the  full  moon  was  shining  out  of  the  blue 
black  of  heaven.  "  It  looks  better,"  he 
said,  as  he  came  in  again.  "  It  will  be  fine 
to-morrow.  And  there  is  no  great  harm 
done  yet." 

But,  to  all  appearance,  more  rain  fell 
during  the  night,  for  when  the  household 
rose  at  daybreak,  the  hills  were  running 
with  water,  and  every  little  streamlet  was 


A  LITTLE  WIZARD.  143 

musical.  A  fine  drizzle  filled  the  air,  and 
obscured  even  the  nearer  surface  of  the 
moore,  while  fog  veiled  the  mountains  and 
hung  like  a  curtain  before  the  distant 
prospects.  The  boy  eating  his  porridge 
with  the  others,  unconscious  of  the  strange 
glances  and  suspicious  shrinkings  of  which 
he  was  the  object,  looked  through  the 
window  and  wondered  how  he  was  to 
manage  his  counting,  and  whether  it 
would  be  possible  to  tell  horse  from  foot. 
From  this  his  thoughts  strayed  to  Frank. 
Frank  must  be  suffering  horribly  in  this 
weather,  with  no  roof  over  him,  and  no 
cloak,  and  no  sufficient  food.  At  the 
thought  Jack  felt  his  eyes  fill  with  tears, 
tears  which  he  would  fain  have  hidden ; 
but  he  found  Simon's  harsh  glance  upon 
him,  and  whichever  way  he  looked  he 
could  not  escape  it.  He  grew  hot; 
he  changed  color  and  trembled  in  his 
seat,  and  presently,  feeling  his  position  in- 


144  A  LITTLE  WIZARD. 

sufferable — for  he  longed  to  think,  and 
could  not  do  so  under  eyes  which  seemed 
to  read  his  secrets — he  rose  suddenly,  and 
sidled  from  the  room.  He  went,  as  he  sup- 
posed, unnoticed,  and  without  a  thought 
of  evil  seized  his  cap  and  left  the  house. 

Never  had  the  moor  looked  more  deso- 
late ;  more  sad  and  dreary  and  grey-col- 
ored. Here  and  there  a  stone  stood  up- 
right, peering  boldly  through  the  rain ; 
and  here  and  there,  where  the  fell  rose,  a 
whirl  of  mist  floated  above  the  surface 
as  the  fog  thickened  and  broke  before  a 
puff  of  wind.  The  child  shivered  as  he 
looked  about  him ;  and  an  older  heart 
might  have  quailed.  But  shiver  or  quail, 
he  held  on.  He  had  a  purpose,  and  he 
clung  to  it.  He  knew  the  way  to  the  high 
road,  which  passed  over  the  moor  half  a 
league  from  the  house,  and  he  pressed  on 
bravely  towards  it,  thinking  of  his  brother 
and  the  King,  and  the  service  he  was  about 


A   LITTLE  WIZARD.  145 

to  perform,  until,  despite  the  rain,  his 
puny  frame  glowed  all  over.  The  thoughts 
in  his  mind  were  childish  enough,  the  ideas 
he  entertained  of  men  and  things  as  shad- 
owy and  unreal  as  the  fog  about  him.  But 
the  spirit  and  self-denial  which  supported 
him  were  as  real  as  any  which  animated 
the  greatest  man  who  that  day  marched  or 
fought  for  his  cause. 

Even  the  passage  of  an  army  with  horse 
and  foot  and  great  guns  could  not  in  such 
a  district  draw  together  any  large  number 
of  spectators ;  and  the  boy,  saved  from  im- 
mediate pursuit  by  the  fog,  found  himself 
free  to  choose  his  position.  Avoiding  a 
group  of  countryfolk  who  had  taken  pos- 
session of  a  hillock  which  would  otherwise 
have  suited  him  well,  he  made  for  a  second 
mound  that  rose  a  hundred  paces  farther 
on,  and  seemed  also  to  overlook  the  road. 
Climbing  to  the  top  of  this,  he  sat  down  in 

the  damp  bracken  to  wait  for  the  troops. 
10 


146  A  LITTLE  WIZARD. 

A  sutler  or  two  passed  presently  below 
him,  some  straggling  horsemen,  a  few 
knots  of  yokels  bent  on  satisfying  their 
curiosity.  But  the  day  was  four  hours  old 
before  the  measured  tramp  of  hoofs  and  the 
murmur  of  many  voices,  the  clang  of  steel, 
and  hoarse  cries  of  command  thrilled  the 
child  with  the  consciousness  that  the  time 
was  come.  Trembling  with  excitement,  he 
peered  over  the  edge  of  the  mound.  The 
rain  had  ceased  for  a  while.  There  was 
some  show  of  clearing  in  the  air.  The  sun 
which  had  broken  through  the  clouds 
struck  full  on  the  head  of  the  column,  as  it 
came  on  slowly  and  majesticalty,  in  a 
frame  of  steaming  mist ;  cuirass  and  hel- 
met, spur  and  scabbard,  flashing  and  spark- 
jing  in  the  white  glare. 

These  were  the  horsemen  who  had 
stemmed  the  pride  of  Rupert  and  shattered 
the  Cavaliers.  The  boy  looked  and  looked 
at  them,  looked  until  the  last  man — a 


A  LITTLE  WIZARD.  147 

grave  sergeant  with  a  book  at  his  belt- 
had  ridden  by  him.  Then  he  remembered 
himself  with  a  sigh,  and  quickly  drawing 
out  his  cross,  cut  six  nicks  upon  it,  for  the 
six  troops  of  horse  which  had  formed  the 
column. 

After  these,  three  regiments  of  foot 
passed  ;  stern,  war-worn  men,  muddy  and 
travel-stained,  in  buff  coats,  and  with  long 
pikes  trailing  behind  them.  Then  more 
troops  of  horse,  whom  he  duly  nicked,  and 
then  some  tumbrils,  which  at  first  the  boy 
took  for  guns,  but  afterwards  perceived  to 
be  laden  with  ammunition.  On  all  these 
the  sun  shone,  not  cheerfully  but  with  a 
stern  glare,  which  seemed  confined  to  that 
part  of  the  moor,  so  that  they  passed  be- 
fore the  boy  in  a  vision  as  it  were,  and  ho 
notched  them  off  in  a  dream.  It  was 
strange  to  stand  so  near  these  thousands 
of  marching  men,  to  hear  the  murmur  of 
their  multitudinous  voices,  and  the  tramp 


148  A  LITTLE  WIZARD. 

of  their  feet,  and  yet  to  be  apart  from  them 
and  unheeded  by  them.  For  they  passed 
in  perfect  order,  no  man  stepping  out  of 
the  ranks ;  so  that  at  last  the  boy  took 
courage  and  rose  to  his  feet  under  their 
eyes. 

When  the  tumbrils  had  passed  the  sun 
went  in,  and  three  regiments  of  musketeers 
came  up,  marching  on  one  another's  heels, 
with  the  rain  and  storm  gathering  about 
them,  and  the  men  grumbling  at  the 
weather.  The  boy  notched  them  off,  and 
watching  for  the  great  guns  (of  which 
none  had  passed),  walked  from  end  to  end 
of  his  little  platform,  scanning  the  road- 
More  than  one  of  the  men  who  plashed 
along  beneath  him  noticed  the  strange  fig- 
ure of  the  boy  moving  against  the  sky. 

For  the  fog,  through  which  he  loomed 
larger  than  life,  distorted  his  gestures.  He 
seemed  at  times  to  be  cursing  the  men  be- 
low him,  and  at  times  to  be  raising  his 


A  LITTLE  WIZARD.  149 

hands  to  heaven  in  their  behalf.  The 
troopers  who  remarked  his  strange  figure 
perched  above  them, looked  on  indifferently, 
neither  heeding  nor  understanding.  Not 
so  all  who  had  their  eyes  at  that  moment 
upon  him.  The  watcher  was  also  the 
watched;  and  presently,  when  the  rain 
had  set  in  steadily  once  more,  and  the  mist 
had  grown  so  thick  that  he  despaired  of 
finishing  his  count  where  he  was,  and 
thought  of  descending  into  the  road,  a  sud- 
den end  was  put  to  his  calculations.  Some- 
thing rose  up  behind  him  and  dashed  him 
violently  to  the  ground.  Stunned  and  ter- 
rified, the  child  clung,  even  in  his  fall,  to 
the  precious  cross ;  in  a  moment  it  was 
wrenched  from  him.  He  cried  out  wildly 
for  help,  but  instantly  a  cloak  was  flung 
over  his  head,  and  blind,  and  breathless,  he 
felt  himself  raised  from  the  ground.  Some 
one  tied  his  hands  at  the  wrists  and  his 
feet  at  the  ankles ;  then  he  felt  himself 


150  A  LITTLE  WIZARD. 

carried  hastily  off.  He  could  scarcely 
breathe,  he  could  not  struggle,  he  could 
not  see.  He  could  not  even  gues&  what 
had  happened  to  him. 


A  LITTLE  WIZARD.  151 

CHAPTER  VIII. 

A   STRANGE   TRIAL. 

FOR  some  distance  he  felt  himself  car- 
ried across  a  man's  shoulder.  Then  an- 
other man  took  him  up  and  carried  him  on 
more  briskly.  His  head  hung  down,  the 
cloak  covered  his  face  tightly  ;  he  felt  him- 
self at  times  far  on  the  way  to  suffocation. 
But,  gagged  and  bound  as  he  was,  he  could 
neither  cry  out  nor  help  himself. 

The  shortest  journey  taken  under  such 
circumstances  must  needs  seem  endless, 
and  so  this  one  seemed  to  the  child.  He 
long  remembered  it ;  but  at  last  it  did 
come  to  an  end,  with  all  its  misery  and 
terror — things  not  to  be  described  in  words. 
His  bearer  stopped.  He  heard  voices,  and 
the  hollow  sound  of  steps  on  a  stone  floor. 
He  was  set  on  his  feet,  and  the  cloak 
roughly  removed  from  his  head.  He 


152  A   LITTLE  WIZARD. 

looked  about  him  dazed.  To  his  intense 
surprise  and  astonishment  he  found  him- 
self standing  in  the  middle  of  the  kitchen 
at  the  farmhouse.  There  was  the  settle ; 
there  was  the  table  at  which  he  had  eaten 
his  morning  porridge ! 

For  a  moment  the  sight  filled  him  with 
excess  of  joy.  In  the  instant  of  recogni- 
tion the  familiar  surroundings,  the  things 
and  faces  to  which,  meagre  and  harsh  as 
they  were,  he  had  grown  accustomed, 
brought  blessed  relief  to  the  child's  mind. 
He  uttered  Gridley's  name  with  a  sob  of 
joy,  and  tried  to  move  towards  him.  But 
his  hands  and  feet  were  still  bound,  and  he 
lost  his  balance  and  fell  forward  on  the 
floor. 

Simon  Gridley,  amid  perfect  silence,  ad- 
vanced and  took  him  up  and  set  him  in  a 
chair.  The  other  five,  four  men  and  a 
woman,  stood  round  the  table  looking  at 
him.  Each  held  a  bible. 


A   LITTLE  WIZARD.  153 

Between  fright  and  perplexity,  and  the 
hurt  of  his  fall,  the  boy  began  to  cry.  Still 
no  one  spoke  to  him.  He  stopped  crying. 

Then  at  last  the  strange  way  they  looked 
at  him,  the  strange  silence  they  kept,  went 
to  the  boy's  heart.  He  cried  no  longer, 
but  he  looked  from  one  to  the  other,  terri- 
fied by  the  fierce  glare  in  their  eyes. 
"  Gridley,"  he  said  faintly ;  "  Gridley,  what 
is  it,  please  ?  " 

The  butler,  at  the  sound  of  his  voice, 
Bank  down  pale  and  trembling  on  the  meal 
chest.  The  woman  shrank  before  his  eye. 
But  the  four  men  met  his  look  with  stern, 
pitiless  faces  and  set  lips.  It  was  Simon 
who  spoke.  "  We  have  taken  him  in  the 
act,"  he  said,  in  a  low,  impassive  voice. 
"  What  shall  we  do  with  him  ?  " 

"  Ye  shall  make  him  to  cease ! "  Luke 
answered,  in  the  monotonous  tone  of  one 
repeating  a  form.  "  He  comes  of  an  ac- 
cursed brood,  and  he  is  in  league  with  the 


154  A   LITTLE  WIZARD. 

father  of  curses,  whose  child  he  is !  He 
would  have  bewitched  the  Lord  General 
and  his  army  with  his  enchantments.  We 
have  seen  it  with  our  eyes.  What  need 
have  we  of  further  evidence  ?  " 

But  Simon  Gridley  thought  otherwise. 
"  Stand  forward,  woman,"  he  said,  disre- 
garding his  brother's  last  remark.  "  Say 
what  you  saw  yesterday." 

The  woman,  amid  that  strange  silence, 
began  to  speak  in  a  low  voice.  The  rain 
was  still  falling,  and  the  eaves  dripped 
outside.  The  cold  light  which  found  its 
way  into  the  room  showed  her  white  to  the 
lips.  But  she  told  without  faltering  her 
tale  of  the  storm  which  had  fallen  on  the 
moor  when  the  child  rubbed  the  cross ; 
and  no  one  doubted  it,  any  more  than,  to 
do  her  justice,  she  doubted  it  herself.  For 
was  she  not  confirmed  by  the  presence  of 
the  cross  itself,  which  lay  in  the  middle  of 
the  table  for  all  to  see  I  They  looked  at  it 


A   LITTLE  WIZARD.  155 

with  horror,  never  doubting  that  the  knots 
were  devil's  knots,  that  the  wood  of  which 
it  was  formed  came  from  no  earthly  tree. 

Meantime  the  child,  terrified  by  the 
stern,  harsh  faces  and  the  glances  of  unin- 
telligible abhorrence  which  met  him  wher- 
ever he  looked,  had  no  wit  to  understand 
the  charge  made  against  him.  He  knew 
only  that  the  cross  had  something  to  do 
with  it — that  it  was  the  cross  at  which 
they  all  looked  ;  and  he  supposed  from  this 
that  his  brother  was  in  danger.  For  his 
simple  soul  this  was  enough.  He  seemed 
to  be  in  a  dreadful  dream.  He  cried  and 
trembled,  sobbing,  while  they  spoke,  like 
the  child  he  was.  But  his  mind  was  made 
up.  He  would  be  cut  to  pieces,  but  he 
would  never  let  Frank's  name  pass  his 
lips. 

Hence,  when  one  of  the  Edgingtons, 
who  had  met  Master  Matthew  Hopkins, 
the  great  witch-finder,  and  would  fain  have 


156  A   LITTLE  WIZARD. 

probed  the  matter  further  with  such  skill 
as  he  fancied  he  had  acquired,  adjured  him 
solemnly  to  speak  and  say  where  he  got 
the  cross,  the  child  was  silent ;  so  obsti- 
nately silent  that  it  was  plain  he  could 
have  told  something  if  he  would. 

"  He  is  mute  of  malice,"  Simon  said. 

"  He  is  mute  of  the  devil  1  "  Luke  an- 
swered fiercely.  "  What  need  of  talk  when 
we  saw  him  with  our  own  eyes  rule  the 
storm  ?  And  it  rains  still.  It  rains,  and 
will '  rain,'  until  his  power  is  broken." 

This  monstrous  idea  seemed  to  his  hear- 
ers in  no  way  incredible.  The  belief  in 
witchcraft  and  in  demoniacal  possession  of 
every  kind  had  reached  its  height  in  En- 
gland about  this  time,  when  men's  minds, 
released  from  the  wholesome  leading- 
strings  of  custom  and  the  church,  evinced 
a  natural  proneness  to  run  into  all  manner 
of  extremes.  Had  the  child  been  a  woman, 
his  fate  had  been  sealed  on  the  spot,  the 


ft 


A  LITTLE  WIZARD.  157 

popular  fancy  attributing  the  black  art  to 
that  sex  in  particular.  But  the  fact  that 
he  was  a  boy  was  so  far  abnormal,  that  it 
stuck  in  the  throat  of  the  Edgington  who 
had  spoken  before.  "  Has  he  any  mark 
upon  him  ?  "  he  asked. 

The  woman  replied,  almost  in  a  whisper, 
that  he  had  a  black  mole  on  his  left  shoul- 
der. 

"  Is  it  a  common  mark  ?  " 

She  shook  her  head  without  speaking. 

Luke  waited  for  no  more.  "  This  is 
folly  I  "  he  cried  wildly.  "  What  need 
have  we  of  signs  ?  We  have  seen.  Bolts 
and  bars  will  not  hold  him,  nor  will  watet 
receive  him." 

"  That  is  to  be  seen ! "  Edgington  an- 
swered quickly.  "  There  is  a  pool  below. 
Let  us  make  trial  of  him  there,  Master 
Gridley.  If  the  lad  sinks,  well  and  good. 
If  he  will  not  sink,  well  and  good  also.  We 
shall  know  what  to  do  with  him." 


158  A   LITTLE   WIZARD. 

Simon  nodded  sternly.  "  Good,"  he 
said  ;  "  let  it  be  so." 

But  this  the  boy  had  still  the  sense  to 
understand.  A  vision  of  the  dark  bog 
pool  sullenly  lipping  the  rocks  which 
fringed  its  shores  flashed  before  his  child- 
ish eyes.  In  a  second  the  full  horror  of 
the  fate  which  threatened  him  burst  upon 
him,  and  those  eyes  grew  large  with  terror. 
The  color  left  his  face.  He  tried  to  rise,  he 
tried  to  frame  the  word  Gridley,  he  tried 
to  ask  for  mercy.  He  could  not.  Fear 
had  deprived  him  of  the  power  of  speech, 
and  he  could  only  look.  But  his  look  was 
one  to  melt  the  heart  of  any  save  a  fanatic. 

Gridley  the  butler  was  no  fanatic,  and 
though  he  was  a  bad  man  he  was  not  in- 
human. Something  in  the  boy's  piteous 
look  went  straight  to  his  heart.  He  alone 
of  those  present,  though  he  never  doubted 
the  existence  of  witchcraft,  doubted  the 
boy's,  guilt,  for  he  alone  had  known  him 


A  LITTLE  WIZARD.  159 

all  his  life,  and  could  see  nothing  unfamil- 
iar in  him.  He  remembered  him  a  baby, 
prattling  and  crawling,  and  playing  like 
any  other  baby ;  and  despite  himself — for 
there  was  nothing  noble  or  brave  in  the 
man — he  stepped  forward  and  interposed 
between  Simon  and  his  victim. 

"  I  have  known  the  child  all  his  life,"  he 
said  hoarsely.  "  He  has  been  as  other 
children,  Simon." 

His  brother  looked  at  him  coldly.  "  Is 
he  as  other  children  to-day  ?  "  he  said,  and 
he  pointed  to  the  cross  on  the  table. 

The  butler,  thus  challenged,  made  as  if 
he  would  take  up  the  talisman.  But  at 
the  last  moment,  when  his  hand  was  near 
it,  his  heart  failed  him.  He  doubted,  he 
was  a  coward,  and  he  drew  back.  "  He 
was  always  as  other  children, "he  muttered 
again,  hopelessly,  helplessly.  "  I  have 
known  him  from  his  birth." 

"  Very   well,"   Simon    answered,   with 


160  A  LITTLE  WIZARD. 

pitiless  logic.  "  We  shall  see  presently  if 
he  is  as  other  children  now.  The  water 
will  show." 

He  stepped  towards  the  boy  as  he  spoke, 
but  Jack  saw  him  coming,  and  reading  his 
fate  in  the  grim,  unrelenting  looks  which 
everywhere  met  his  eyes,  screamed  loudly. 
The  child  was  fast  bound,  and  could  not 
fly,  but  bound  as  he  was  he  managed  to 
fling  himself  on  the  floor,  and  lay  there 
screaming.  Simon  plucked  him  up 
roughly,  and  looked  round  for  something 
to  muffle  his  cries.  "  The  cloak !  "  he  said 
hurriedly — the  noise  discomposed  him. 
"  The  cloak !  " 

Luke  went  to  fetch  it  from  the  dresser 
on  which  it  had  been  laid,  but  before  he 
could  bring  it,  the  boy  on  a  sudden  stopped 
screaming,  and  stiffened  himself  in  Simon's 
arms.  "  I  will  tell,"  he  cried  wildly. 
"  Let  me  go  1  Let  me  go,  and  I  will  tell.* 

The  man  was  astonished,  as  were  they 


A  LITTLE  WIZARD.  161 

all.  But  he  set  the  boy  back  in  the  chair, 
and  took  his  hands  off  him,  and  stood  wait- 
ing, with  a  stern  light  in  his  eyes,  to  hear 
this  devil's  tale. 

For  a  moment  the  boy  lay  huddled  up 
and  panting,  with  his  lips  apart,  antf 
the  sweat  on  his  flushed  brow.  He  had 
said-^with  the  man's  hands,  on  him  and 
the  black  water  before  his  eyes — that  he 
would  tell.  But  as  he  crouched  there,  get- 
ting his  breath,  and  looking  from  one  to 
another  like  a  frightened  animal,  thoughts 
of  his  brother  whom  he  must  betray, 
thoughts  of  devotion  and  love,  all  child- 
ish but  all  living,  surged  through  his 
brain.  The  men  and  the  woman  waited, 
some  sternly  curious,  and  some  in  fear ; 
but  the  boy  remained  dumb.  He  had  con- 
quered his  terror.  He  was  learning  that 
what  men  suffer  for  others  is  no  suffering. 

Simon  lost  patience  at  last.     "  Speak ! 5> 

he  cried,  "  or  to  the  water  1 " 
11 


162  A  LITTLE  WIZARD. 

The  boy  eyed  him  trembling,  but  re- 
mained silent.  "  Give  him  a  little  more 
time,"  said  one  of  the  other  men. 

"  Ay,  hurry  him  not,"  said  Luke. 

"  He  has  had  time  enough,"  Simon  re- 
torted. "  He  is  but  playing  with  us." 

Yet  he  left  him  a  little  longer,  while  all 
stood  round  and  looked,  greedy  to  hear 
with  their  own  ears  one  of  those  strange 
confessions  of  witchcraft,  which,  whether 
they  had  their  origin  in  delusion  or  in 
some  interested  motive,  were  not  uncom- 
mon in  the  England  of  that  day.  But  the 
child,  though  his  breath  came  quick  and 
fast,  and  his  heart  throbbed  like  the  heart 
of  a  little  bird,  and  he  feared  unspeakably, 
remained  obstinately  silent. 

"  Enough !  "  Simon  cried  at  last,  his  pa- 
tience utterly  exhausted  ;  "  he  is  dimb. 
We  shall  get  nothing  from  him  here.  Let 
us  see  what  the  water  will  do  fo/  him. 
Luke,  the  cloak  I  " 


A  LITTLE  WIZARD.  163 

Jack  controlled  his  fears  until  the  man's 
hands  were  actually  upon  him.  Then  in- 
stinct prevailed,  and  in  despair  he  gave 
way  to  shriek  upon  shriek,  so  that  the 
house  rang  with  the  pitiful  outcry.  "  The 
cloak !  "  Simon  cried  impatiently,  looking 
this  way  and  that  for  it,  while  the  butler 
turned  pale  at  the  sounds.  "  That  is  bet- 
ter ;  now  open  the  door." 

One  of  the  Edgingtons  went  towards  it, 
but  when  he  was  close  to  it,  stopped  on  a 
sudden  and  held  up  his  hand.  The  ges- 
ture was  one  of  warning,  but  it  came  too 
late ;  for  before  those  behind  could  profit 
by  it,  or  do  more  than  surmise  what  it 
meant,  the  door  shook  under  a  heavy 
knock,  and  a  hand  outside  lifted  the  latch. 
The  neighing  of  horses  and  the  sound  of 
hoofs  trampling  the  stones  of  the  fold  gave 
the  party  some  idea  what  they  had  to  ex- 
pect ;  but  late  also,  for  ere  Simon  could 
lay  down  the  child,  or  Edgington  move 


164  A  LITTLE  WIZARD. 

from  his  position,  the  door  was  thrown 
wide  open.  Half  a  dozen  figures  appeared 
on  the  threshold,  and  one  detatching  itself 
from  the  crowd  strode  in  with  an  air  of 
sturdy  authority. 

The  person  who  thus  put  himself  forward 
was  a  middle-aged  man  of  good  height, 
strongly  and  squarely  made.  His  reddish 
face  and  broad,  massive  features  were 
shaded  by  a  wide-leaved  hat,  in  the  band 
of  which  a  little  roll  of  papers  was  stuck. 
He  wore  a  buff  coat  and  breastplate,  and 
a  heavy  sword,  and  had,  besides,  a  pistol 
and  a  leather  glove  thrust  through  his 
girdle.  For  a  second  after  his  entrance, 
he  looked  from  one  face  to  another  with 
quick,  searching  glances  which  nothing  es- 
caped. Then  he  spoke. 

"  Tut-tut-tut-tut  1 "  he  said.  "  What  is 
this?  Have  we  honest,  God-fearing  sol- 
diers here,  halting  by  the  way,  whether 
such  halting  is  in  the  way  or  not,  or  in  the 


A  LITTLE  WIZARD.  165 

morning  orders?  Or  have  we  ramping, 
roystering,  babe-killing  free-companions  ? 
— eh,  man  ?  Speak  1 "  he  continued  rap- 
idly, his  utterance  somewhat  thick.  "What 
have  you  here  ?  Unfasten  this  cloak,  some 
one!" 

Thunderstruck,  and  taken  completely 
by  surprise — for  the  doorway  was  filled 
with  faces — the  party  in  the  room  fell 
back  a  step.  Simon  mechanically  laid  the 
boy  down,  but  still  maintained  his  position 
by  him.  Nor  did  the  Puritan,  though  he 
found  himself  thus  abruptly  challenged  by 
one  who  seemed  to  be  able  to  make  good 
his  words,  lose  a  jot  of  his  grim  aspect. 
He  was  aware  of  no  wrong  he  had  done. 
His  conscience  was  clear. 

"  They  are  not  soldiers,  your  excel- 
lency," one  of  the  persons  in  the  doorway 
said  briskly.  "  Four  of  them  live  here, 
and  the  other  two  are  honest  men  from 
Bradford," 


166  A  LITTLE  WIZARD. 

"  That  man  has  worn  the  bandoliers,*1 
the  first  speaker  retorted,  in  a  voice  which 
brooked  no  denial.  "  Sirrah,  find  your 
tongue,"  he  continued  sternly,  bending  a 
brow  which  was  never  of  the  lightest. 
"  Have  you  not  served  ?  " 

"  I  was  in  the  forlorn  of  horse  at 
Naseby,"  Simon  answered  sullenly 

"  In  what  troop  ?  " 

"  Captain  Rawlins's." 

"  Is  it  so  ? "  his  excellency  answered, 
dropping  his  voice  at  once  to  a  more  genial 
note.  "  Well,  friend,  you  had  for  com- 
mander a  good  man  and  serviceable.  You 
could  no  better.  And  who  are  these  with 
you  ?  " 

"  Two  are  his  brothers,"  the  voice  in  the 
doorway  explained.  "  They  were  very 
forward  against  Langdale's  horse  in  the 
skirmish  at  Settle  three  days  ago,  your 
excellency." 

"  Good,  good,  all  this  is  good,"  Crom* 


A  LITTLE  WIZARD.  167 

well  answered  briskly  ;  for  that  redoubtable 
man,  Lieutenant-General  at  this  time  of  the 
armies  of  the  Parliament,  it  was.  "  Then 
why  were  you  backward  to  answer  my 
questions,  friend,  being  questions  it  lay  in 
me  to  put,  I  being  at  the  head  of  this  poor 
army  and  in  authority?  But  there,  you 
were  modest.  Here,  Pownall,"  he  con- 
tinued, "  lay  the  maps  on  the  table.  We 
can  examine  them  here  in  shelter.  'Twas 
a  happy  thought  of  yours.  And  let  the 
prisoners  be  brought  here  also.  Yet,  stay," 
he  added,  facing  round  once  more,  his 
brow  dark.  "  Methinks  there  comes  a 
strange  whimpering  from  that  cloak !  Is 
't  a  dog  ?  To  it,  Pownall,  and  see  what  it 
is." 

The  officer  he  addressed  sprang  zealously 
forward,  and  whipping  up  the  cloak  dis- 
closed the  child  lying  bound  on  the  floor. 
Terror  and  the  exertion  of  screaming  had 
reduced  the  boy  to  the  last  stage  of  con- 


168  A  LITTLE  WIZARD. 

sciousness.  He  lay  motionless,  his  face 
pale,  and  his  eyes  half  closed ;  his  little 
bound  hands  appealing  powerfully  to  the 
feelings  of  the  spectators.  Even  the  pres- 
ence of  so  many  strangers  failed  to  rouse 
him,  or  move  him  to  a  last  appeal.  He  ap- 
peared to  be  unconscious  of  their  entrance, 
or  of  any  change  in  his  surroundings. 

The  sight  was  one  to  awaken  indigna- 
tion in  a  man,  and  Cromwell  was  a  man. 
"  What  1 "  he  exclaimed  roundly,  and  with 
something  like  an  oath ;  "  what  is  this  ? 
Why  have  you  bound  him  ?  Who  is  he  ? 
Is  he  your  son  ?  " 

"  No,"  Simon  answered,  scowling. 

"  Who  is  he  ?  " 

"  His  name  is  Patten." 

"  Patten,  Patten,  Patten  ?  Where  have 
I  heard  the  name  ?  "  Cromwell  answered. 
lt  Ho,  I  remember !  There  is  a  young 
malignant  of  that  name  on  the  black  list, 
is  there  not  ?  For  this  county,  too  \ n 


A  LITTLE  WIZARD.  169 

An  officer  replied  that  there  was ;  ad- 
ding that  the  young  man  was  supposed  to 
be  in  Duke  Hamilton's  army. 

"  Very  well !  We  will  deal  with  him 
when  we  catch  him,"  Cromwell  answered 
sharply.  "  But,  in  the  name  of  sense,- 
what  has  that  to  do  with  this  boy  ?  Why, 
'tis  a  child  !  His  mother's  milk  is  hardly 
dry  on  his  lips !  Why  have  you  bound 
him,  man  ?  " 

Simon  Gridley  strove  to  give  back  look 
for  look,  and  to  make  the  outward  coun- 
tenance answer  to  the  inward  innocence. 
But  the  General's  sharp  questions,  and 
the  astonished  and  indignant  faces  which 
filled  the  room,  made  this  difficult.  A 
sudden  doubt  springing  up  in  his  own 
mind,  thus  untimely,  lent  additional  gloom 
to  his  manner,  as  he  answered :  "  He  is 
no  child.  He  is  a  witch ! " 

"  A  witch  I "  Cromwell  cried,  his  voice 
drowning  a  dozen  exclamations  of  astonish,- 


170  A  LITTLE  WIZARD. 

ment.    "  Why,  mercy  on  us,  a  witch  is  a 
woman !    And  'tis  a  boy  1 " 

"  Ay,  but  'tis  a  witch  too,"  Simon  an- 
swered stubbornly. 


A  LITTLE  WIZARD.  171 

CHAPTER  IX. 

HIS  EXCELLENCY'S  JUDGMENT. 

IP  Duke  Hamilton  had  suddenly  ap- 
peared in  the  room  and  surrendered  him' 
self  without  terms — a  thing  beyond  doubt 
unlikely  to  happen  as  long  as  that  gallant 
gentleman  had  thirty  thousand  men  at  his 
back — those  present  could  scarcely  have 
looked  more  astonished.  Not  that  they, 
or  the  majority  of  them  at  all  events, 
doubted  the  existence  of  witchcraft.  On 
the  contrary;  but  anything  less  like  the 
common  idea  of  a  witch  than  this  helpless 
child  it  would  have  been  difficult  to  con- 
ceive. Respect  for  their  chief  did  indeed 
silence  the  laughter  which  the  man's  an- 
swer  would  otherwise  have  caused,  but  it 
could  not  still  the  murmur  of  amazement 
and  ridicule,  or  the  hum  of  indignation 
which  rose  to  their  lips. 


172  A  LITTLE  WIZARD. 

"  The  man  is  mad  1 "  cried  one  by  the 
door,  a  person  privileged. 

"  Silence !  "  Cromwell  answered  sharply. 
"  And  do  you,  sirrah,"  he  continued  to 
Simon,  "  explain  yourself  at  once,  or  I  will 
find  means  to  lash  sense  into  you.  What 
has  the  boy  done  ?  " 

Before  Simon  could  answer  Luke  inter- 
posed. The  enthusiast  could  restrain  him- 
self no  longer. 

"  What  has  he  done  ?  "  he  cried.  "  He 
has  sold  himself  to  do  evil  and  stint  not. 
Wiry  do  our  horses  fail  and  the  wheels  of 
our  chariots  drive  heavily,  so  that  the 
work  is  not  done,  nor  the  task  accom- 
plished ?  Because  of  the  learning  of  the 
Egyptians  which  he  has  learned,  and  be- 
cause of  the  witchcraft  of  Jezebel  which  he 
has  practised,  that  the  people  may  remain 
in  bondage  and  our  leader  fall  and  rise  not. 
Be  warned,  0  Joshua,  and  hear  reason,  0 


A  LITTLE  WIZARD.  173 

deliverer  I  It  rains,  and  will  rain  in  the 
land  until " 

"  Tie  up  the  knave's  mouth,  some  one  1 " 
thundered  Cromwell.  "  And  do  you,"  he 
continued,  addressing  Simon,  "  who  seem 
to  have  some  wit  in  your  madness,  answer 
me  briefly,  what  has  the  child  done  ?  " 

But  Simon's  answer  was  destined  to  be 
again  interrupted ;  this  time  by  the  arrival 
of  the  officer  in  charge  of  the  prisoners, 
who  came  in  to  learn  whether  the  General 
would  examine  them  in  the  house.  Crom- 
well gave  the  order,  and  the  men,  two  in 
number,  were  accordingly  brought  in  and 
made  to  stand  by  the  door.  This  caused 
a  momentary  delay  and  commotion ;  but, 
so  great  was  the  interest  taken  in  the 
child,  who  had  been  by  this  time  raised 
from  the  floor  and  relieved  of  his  bonds, 
that  scarcely  any  one  turned  to  notice 
them.  The  moment  the  stir  ceased,  the 
General  nodded  to  Simon. 


174  A  LITTLE  WIZARD. 

"  The  boy  has  a  spell,"  Gridley  an- 
swered,  getting  speech  at  last.  "  He  has 
a  charm,  and  when  he  rubs  it,  it  rains. 
He  brought  the  rain  yesterday,  and  brought 
it  again  to-day." 

"  Tush,  man  !  "  Cromwell  said  contemp- 
tuously. "  You  play  with  me." 

"  You  do  not  believe  me  ?  " 

"  No,  in  faith  I  do  not,"  the  General 
answered  darkly. 

"  Then  here  is  the  proof  I  "  the  fanatic 
cried,  in  a  voice  of  triumpho  And  he 
pointed  to  the  wooden  cross  which  lay  on 
the  table.  "  There  is  the  charm  !  There, 
look  at  it,  touch  it,  handle  it ;  tell  me  what 
it  is,  if  you  can  !  " 

"  A  child's  toy,"  Cromwell  answered 
scornfully,  as  he  stepped  forward  and  with- 
out hesitation  took  up  the  implement. 
"  Well,  man,  I  see  it,"  he  continued,  turn- 
ing it  over  in  his  hand.  "  What  of  it  ? 
Be  brief  with  your  madness,  for  I  have 


A  LITTLE  WIZARD.  175 

larger    fish   to  fry  to-day.      Be  brief,  I 
say." 

"  I  will,"  the  Puritan  answered,  un- 
daunted. And  therewith,  beginning  with 
the  story  of  the  strange  evasion  from  the 
closet,  he  told  the  tale,  so  far  as  he  knew 
it,  of  Jack's  mysterious  proceedings  and 
powers.  For  a  while,  Cromwell  listened 
or  appeared  to  listen  with  half  an  ear  only, 
his  attention  divided  between  the  speaker 
and  a  map  which  the  obsequious  Pownall 
had  placed  on  the  table.  But  when  Simon 
came  to  the  boy's  singular  proceedings  on 
the  hillock  above  the  road,  and  described, 
with  some  advantages  which  his  imagina- 
tion lent  the  narrative,  the  manner  of  the 
boy's  behavior  while  the  army  passed  be- 
low him,  Cromwell's  attitude  underwent  a 
sudden  change.  He  closed  the  map  with 
a  quick  gesture,  and  for  a  moment  gazed 
full  at  the  man  from  under  his  bushy  eye- 
brows. 


176  A  LITTLE  WIZARD. 

"  Umph  I  And  so  you  think  that  caused 
the  storm,  Master  Numskull  ?  "  he  rapped 
out,  when  Simon  had  come  to  an  end. 
"  Where  is  this  cross  ?  " 

It  had  been  passed  from  hand  to  hand, 
but  was  at  once  brought  back  to  him. 
"  Here,  Hodgson,"  he  said  sharply ;  "  what 
do  you  make  of  it  ?  " 

The  officer  to  whom  he  appealed  turned 
the  thing  over  and  over  in  his  hands,  but 
could  make  nothing  of  it.  Cromwell 
watched  him  with  a  sparkle  in  his  eye,  and 
at  length  snatched  it  from  him.  "  Chut  I  " 
he  said — but  although  he  scolded,  it  was 
evident  he  was  well  pleased — "  you  are  as 
big  a  fool  as  Master  Numskull  there  1 
Didst  never  see  a  tally,  man  ?  " 

"  A  tally,  your  excellency  ?  " 

"  Ay,  a  tally,  a  tally,  a  tally !  "  replied 
his  excellency,  impatiently.  "  A  thing,  I 
tell  thee,  that  was  known  in  this  England 
of  ours,  and  in  the  exchequer,  when  rogues 


A  LITTLE  WIZARD.  1T7 

were  fewer  and  thy  ancestors  were  hung 
without  benefit  of  clergy  1  This  is  a  tally 
if  ever  I  saw  one.  To  take  an  honest  tally 
for  a  witch's  broomstick  ?  But  softly  I 
Said  I  an  honest  tally  ? "  he  continued, 
looking  suddenly  about  him,  while  his 
voice  grew  hard  and  stern.  "  Pownall  1 
count  those  notches." 

The  officer  obeyed.  "  There  are  twenty* 
three,  your  excellency,"  he  said,  when  he 
had  accomplished  the  task. 

"  And  how  many  troops  of  horse  have 
gone  by  to-day  ?  " 

"  Twenty-three,  your  excellency,"  was 
the  answer,  given  with  military  brevity. 

A  murmur  of  intelligence  passed  round 
the  circle  of  officers.  The  clue  once  found 
by  Cromwell's  sharp  eye  and  strong  com- 
mon sense,  the  secret  became  an  open  one, 
patent  to  the  dullest  intellect.  When 
further  examination  showed  that  the  num- 
ber of  notches  on  the  other  arm  of  the 
12 


178  A  LITTLE  WIZARD. 

cross  corresponded  with  the  number  of 
foot  regiments  which  had  passed  that 
morning,  even  Simon  Gridley  began  to  un- 
derstand that  here  was  no  question  of  the 
supernatural,  but  of  some  human  agency 
equally  hostile  to  the  good  cause.  Only 
Luke  Gridley  remained  unconvinced. 
"  Bolts  and  bars  could  not  hold  him,"  he 
murmured,  "  nor " 

"  We  will  come  to  that  by-and-by," 
Cromwell  answered.  "  Let  the  boy  stand 
forward.  Where  is  he  ?  " 

Some  one  thrust  Jack  forward  into  the 
middle  of  the  room,  where  he  stood  ex- 
posed to  the  full  brunt  of  Cromwell's  for- 
midable gaze.  The  shock  through  which 
the  child  had  passed  had  left  him  dazed 
and  weak ;  his  color  came  and  went,  his 
legs  faltered  under  him,  and  he  trembled 
perceptibly.  But  his  heart  was  stout,  and 
his  breeding  stood  him  in  good  stead  at 
this  crisis.  Barely  understanding  what 


A  LITTLE  WIZARD.  179 

had  passed,  or  the  steps  by  which  his  plan 
had  been  discovered,  on  one  point  he  was 
still  clear,  steadfast,  and  resolute :  and 
that  was,  that  come  what  might,  he  would 
not  betray  his  brother  I 

But  for  the  moment  Cromwell  said  noth- 
ing about  that.  The  question  he  put  to 
him  took  all  present  by  surprise.  "  Who 
let  you  out  of  the  closet,  my  lad  ? "  he 
said,  in  a  tone  of  rough  good-nature. 

"  A  man,"  the  boy  muttered,  with  dry 
lips. 

"  Was  it  one  of  the  men  in  the  house  ? 
No  ?  Then  how  did  the  man  get  into  the 
Louse?  Tell  us  that." 

Jack  looked  about  him  like  a  trapped 
animal.  He  did  not  know  which  questions 
he  ought  to  answer  and  which  he  ought  to 
refuse  to  answer.  Confused  and  terrified 
by  the  gaze  of  so  many  men  and  the  pos- 
session of  a  secret,  aware  only  that  he 
must  keep  back  his  brother's  name  and 


130  A   LITTLE  WIZARD. 

hiding-place,  the  instinct  of  a  drowning 
man  led  him  to  give  up  all  else.  After  a 
moment's  hesitation  he  muttered :  "  His 
•wife,"  pointing  to  Simon, "  went  out  in  the 
middle  of  the  night.  She  left  the  door 
open,  and  the  man  came  in." 

"  Very  good,"  Cromwell  answered. 
"  That  is  clear  and  explicit.  And  now, 
my  man,"  he  continued,  turning  suddenly 
upon  Simon,  who  stood  silent  and  con- 
founded, "  what  do  you  say  ?  More  seems 
to  go  on  in  your  house  than  you  wot  of. 
Let  the  woman  stand  out." 

Gridley  the  butler,  sitting  doubled  up 
on  the  meal  chest,  where  his  brother's  fig- 
ure sheltered  him,  almost  fell  forward  with 
terror.  He  saw  his  crime  on  the  point  of 
being  discovered,  and  all  his  craven  soul 
was  in  alarm.  Were  attention  once  drawn 
to  him,  were  he  once  challenged  and  bade 
to  stand  forth,  he  knew  that  no  power 
could  save  him.  In  the  absence  of  evi- 


A  LITTLE  WIZARD.  181 

dence  he  would  infallibly  betray  himself. 
The  dreadful  tremors,  the  sickening  appre- 
hension, which  he  had  felt  during  the  first 
part  of  his  flight  from  Pattenhall,  when  he 
had  the  damning  evidences  of  his  crime 
upon  him,  returned  upon  him  now,  and 
bitterly,  most  bitterly,  did  he  regret  that 
he  had  ever  given  way  to  temptation. 

He  came  near  to  swooning  when  he 
heard  the  woman  called  out,  for  he  thought 
it  a  hundred  chances  to  one  that  she  would 
falter,  and  in  a  moment  weave  a  rope  for 
his  neck.  The  sweat  ran  down  his  face 
as  he  strained  his  ears  to  catch — he  dared 
not  look — the  first  syllable  of  accusation. 

But  Mistress  Gridley,  though  she  had 
had  scant  notice  of  the  occasion,  was  of  a 
harder  kind.  Relieved  of  ghostly  fears, 
her  mind  quickly  regained  its  balance,  and 
instinctively  took  refuge  in  the  falseness 
which  had  become  second  nature.  Her 
shrewdish  face  wore  a  flush  as  she  came  for- 


182  A  LITTLE  WIZARD. 

ward,  and  there  was  a  flicker  of  secret  fear 
in  her  eye.  But  the  tone  in  which  she  de- 
nied that  she  had  ever  left  her  house  on 
the  night  in  question  was  even  and  com- 
posed, and  "  As  for  a  man,"  she  added 
scornfully,  "  what  man  is  there  within 
three  miles  of  us  ? " 

"  The  man  who  taught  this  lad  to  spy  !  " 
Cromwell  retorted,  swiftly  and  severely. 
"  That  man,  woman  !  Do  you  know  him  ?  " 

She  could  say  No  to  that  with  a  good 
conscience,  and  she  did  so. 

Cromwell  signed  to  her  stand  back. 
"  Yery  well,"  he  said,  "  then  the  boy  shall 
tell  us."  He  turned  to  Jack,  and  after 
glaring  at  him  for  a  moment,  cried  in  a 
loud  voice :  "  Hark  ye,  sirrah  I  who  gave 
you  this  cross  ?  What  is  his  name,  and 
where  is  he  ?  " 

That  voice,  at  which  so  many  men  had 
trembled  and  were  to  tremble,  made  the 
very  marrow  in  Jack's  bones  quiver.  That 


A  LITTLE  WIZARD.  183 

fierce  red  face  with  its  fiery  eyes  seemed  to 
grow  before  Jack's  gaze  until  the  child  saw 
nothing  else  save  that  and  a  dancing  haze 
which  framed  it.  "  Hark  ye,  sirrah  I  " 
He  heard  the  words  repeated  again  and 
again,  and  his  soul  melted  within  him  for 
fear.  But  he  remained  dumb. 

"  Come !  "  Cromwell  said  grimly  when  he 
had  thrice  bidden  him  to  speak  in  vain. 
"  This  is  what  I  expected.  But  I  will  find 
a  means  to  open  your  lips.  Pownall,  bid 
one  of  the  guard  bring  a  rope  ! " 

A  movement  in  the  room  seemed  to  in- 
dicate that  the  order  caused  emotion  of 
some  kind,  and  Captain  Hodgson,  a  bluff 
North-countryman,  high  in  the  General's 
favor,  stepped  forward  as  if  to  interpose. 
But  apparently  he  thought  better  of  it, 
and  in  a  moment  a  rope  was  brought. 
"  Now,"  Cromwell  thundered,  "  will  you 
speak  ? " 

But  Jack,  whose  white  face  and  strain- 


184  A  LITTLE  WIZARD. 

ing  eyes,  as  he  stood  alone  in  the  middle  of 
the  kitchen,  a  child  among  men,  were  piti- 
ful to  behold,  remained  silent.  Only  one 
idea,  and  that  was  rather  an  instinct  than 
a  conscious  determination,  remained  with 
him — to  shelter  Frank. 

"  Tie  him  up !  "  said  Cromwell,  in  a  hard 
voice.  "  Sergeant,"  he  continued,  "  take 
two  files  and  the  boy  outside,  and  if  he 
does  not  speak  in  five  minutes,  string  him 
up."  No  one  spoke  or  interposed,  and  the 
child,  half  led  and  half  carried  by  the  burly 
sergeant,  had  almost  reached  the  threshold, 
when  a  voice  close  by  exclaimed  suddenly  : 
"  Enough,  you  cowards  !  Shame  on  you  ! 
Let  the  child  go !  " 

"  Who  spoke  ?  "  Cromwell  cried,  wheel- 
ing round  from  the  map  he  was  scanning. 

"  The  man  you  want ! "  was  the  reck- 
less answer.  "  Take  him,  and  let  the  child 
go!" 

There   was   a  brief  commotion   at  the 


A  LITTLE  WIZARD.  185 

door,  which  ended  in  one  of  the  prisoners 
being  thrust  forward  until  he  stood  face 
to  face  with  the  General.  "  So,  so !  "  said 
Cromwell,  eyeing  him  with  a  frown.  "  Who 
are  you  ?  " 

"  I  have  told  you  !  "  the  man  answered 
flippantly,  though  the  perspiration  stood 
in  beads  on  his  brow,  and  behind  that 
brave  face  which  he  showed  the  crowd  was 
a  human  soul  sick  with  fear  of  that  which 
all  men  fear.  "  I  am  the  man  you  want. 
The  boy  is  my  brother,  and  I  told  him 
what  to  do.  He  is  a  mere  baby." 

For  the  speaker  was  Frank  Patten. 
There  was  a  stir  among  the  officers  round 
the  door,  but  Cromwell  remained  unmoved. 
"  Where  was  this  fellow  taken  ?  "  he  asked, 
looking  him  over  critically. 

"  Between  here  and  Settle,  jour  excel- 
lency," Hodgson  answered.  "  The  scout- 
master found  him  loitering  on  the  road 
and  seized  him  on  suspicion." 


186  A   LITTLE  WIZARD. 

"  He  is  a  zealous  man,"  Cromwell  an- 
swered. "  Let  a  note  of  it  be  made,  Pow- 
nall.  For  you,  fellow,"  he  continued,  ad- 
dressing the  prisoner,"  say  what  you  have 
to  say.  Your  time  is  short." 

"  I  have  only  one  thing  to  say,"  the 
young  man  answered  coldly — and  few 
among  the  many  who  admired  his  self- 
control  marked  the  tiny  pulse  beating 
madly  in  his  cheek.  "  There  is  some  gold 
plate  hidden  hard  by.  My  brother  knows 
where  it  is.  It  was  stolen  by  that  craven 
hound  yonder,  and  buried  by  night  by  that 
lying  shrew  there.  Perhaps  the  man  who 
recovers  it  will  have  a  care  of  the  child 
until  something  fall  out  for  him.  That 
is  all." 

"Wait!"  said  Cromwell.  "Let  that 
man  stand  out.  Is  this  the  man  ?  " 

But  Gridley  the  butler  saved  Frank  the 
trouble  of  answering.  With  a  moan  of 
terror  he  flung  himself  on  his  knees  on 


A  LITTLE  WIZARD.  187 

the  floor,  and  with  tears  flowing  down  his 
pale,  fat  face,  uttered  such  abject  entreaties 
for  mercy  as  shamed  the  very  men  who 
heard  them.  Punishment  had  indeed 
fallen  on  the  wretched  creature,  for  while 
he  lay  there,  now  excusing  himself  and  now 
accusing  the  woman — who  stood  by,  dark 
and  unrepentant,  her  face  full  of  impotent 
spite— he  tasted  the  bitterness  of  death  a 
dozen  times  over. 

"  Faugh  !  "  Cromwell  exclaimed  at  last, 
spurning  him  from  him  with  his  booted 
foot ;  "  take  him  away.  Let  him  run  the 
gauntlet  of  whatever  regiment  is  first  in 
quarters  to-night  1  And  see  they  lay  on 
roundly,  Hodgson.  For  this  lying  woman, 

your  wife,  man " 

"  She  is  no  longer  wife  of  mine  !  "  the 
Puritan  answered,  so  grimly  that  more 
than  one  shuddered.  "  She  shall  cross  my 
threshold  once,  and  never  again.  She  has 
sinned  ;  let  her  starve." 


188  A  LITTLE  WIZARD. 

General  Cromwell  shrugged  his  should- 
ers and  stood  a  moment  in  thought. 
Then  he  turned  to  Patten.  "  For  you," 
he  said  harshly,  "  you  are  a  soldier,  and 
know  your  sentence.  You  can  have  an 
hour's  grace.  Sergeant  Joyce,  retain  four 
files,  and  see  the  sentence  carried  out.  Or 
stay,  I  will  reduce  it  to  writing.  The  boy 
may  be  with  him." 

The  voices  of  the  General's  staff,  as  they 
mounted  and  rode  briskly  away  at  his 
heels,  had  long  died  away,  and  only  the 
sobbing  of  the  child  as  he  lay  in  Frank's 
arms  broke  the  silence  of  the  ill-fated 
house.  The  guards  left  in  charge,  grave 
stalwart  men,  not  without  bowels  of  com- 
passion, had  retired  outside  the  door  and 
left  the  two  to  pass  these  last  moments  to- 
gether ;  with  an  intimation  that  when  the 
hour  was  up  they  would  call  their  prisoner. 
All  things,  even  the  ray  of  golden  light 


A  LITTLE  WIZARD.  189 

•which  presently  pierced  the  window,  as  if 
to  warn  Frank  to  look  his  last  on  the  sun, 
combined  to  heighten  the  stillness  and 
peace,  if  not  the  solemn  resignation,  of  this 
last  hour.  But  alas,  the  approach  of  death 
withers  life  itself.  The  young  man's  blood 
curdled  and  stood  at  the  thought  of  it,  so 
that  at  last  the  moments  slowly  passing  in 
that  silence  grew  intolerable.  An  hour  ? 
It  seemed  to  him  that  he  had  sat  with  the 
child  in  his  arms  for  thrice  that  time. 
When  would  they  come  ? 

He  grew  so  desperate  at  last  that  he 
set  the  boy  down,  and  with  a  parting  pas- 
sionate embrace  hurried  to  the  door  ;  the 
sooner  it  was  over  now,  the  better.  Des- 
perately he  opened  the  door  and  stepped 
out  into  the  daylight. 

For  a  moment  after  he  had  done  so  he 
stood  confounded,  staring  about  him  with 
wild  eyes.  Before  him  lay  the  moorland, 
half  in  sunshine,  half  in  shadow.  Above 


190  A  LITTLE  WIZARD. 

him  the  clouds  had  parted,  and  the  infinite 
expanse  of  heaven  lay  open  to  his  view. 
But  nowhere  was  a  living  creature  in  sight. 
The  troop-horses,  whose  bits  he  had  heard 
jingling  a  few  minutes  before,  were  gone; 
the  troopers  had  melted  into  thin  air  I 

He  clapped  his  hand  to  his  forehead,  and 
stood  awhile  battling  to  control  himself. 
Was  this  a  trick  ?  If  not — and  then  his 
eye,  travelling  dizzily  round,  lit  on  a  piece 
of  paper  which  some  one  had  nailed  to  th« 
outside  of  the  door  with  a  knife.  He  bent 
his  head,  and  peered  at  it,  and  read  : 

"  To  Sergeant  Joyce. — Half  an  hour 
after  my  departure  you  will  let  the  pris- 
oner, Francis  Patten,  go  free.  And  this 
shall  be  your  authority. 

"Oliver  Cromwell,  Lieutenant- General." 

THE   END. 


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He  bent  his  head  and  peered  at  it. — Page  190. 


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